Category: Road Trip Wednesday!

RTW: The Elevator Pitch

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Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where the ladies at YA Highway post a weekly writing- or reading-related question for participants to respond to on their own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

This Week’s Topic: You’re re-reading one of your favs when someone asks the dreaded question: “What’s that book about?” Give us your best off-the-cuff blurb of any book, any genre, and have your readers try to guess the title in the comments!

Gotta love YA Highway’s example: Well, this high school chick gets her first period in the gym showers and totally freaks. Her classmates pretend to like her, then humiliate her at the prom by dumping pig blood on her head, so she kills them all by using her telekinetic powers and burning down the school… I know, I know! It’s Stephen King’s Carrie, right? 🙂

Unfortunately, pitching in a clear, concise manner isn’t one of my strengths, but this challenge is too much fun to pass up. Here’s my off-the-cuff blurb for a classic favorite:

Four optimistic siblings are forced to survive the streets of an idyllic small town after the death of their parents, while eluding the heartless grandfather they’ve never met. The children take up residence in an abandoned railroad car, and while the eldest brother works odd jobs for a kindly doctor, the others decorate their new home with treasures from the local dump. When one of the children falls ill and her siblings call on the doctor for help, he realizes they’re the grandchildren of his wealthy, benevolent friend and must determine how to best reunite the family.

So… any guesses? And don’t forget to visit YA Highway to check out the rest of the posts.

Also, before I forget… have you entered to win a brand new copy of Jessi Kirby‘s amazing debut Moonglass? I’m giving one away right HERE! The contest is super easy, open internationally, and ends this Friday, June  17th. Trust me: You want to read this book!

RTW: To Plot or Not to Plot

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Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where the ladies at YA Highway post a weekly writing- or reading-related question for participants to respond to on their own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

This Week’s Topic: Are you a plotter or a pantser? Do you like to make a detailed plan before you start a project? Or do you prefer to fly by the seat of your pants and make it up as you go along?

Easy. I’m a plotter, both in writing and in life. I like to have a plan for everything I do: day-to-day activities, traveling, tackling the grocery store, and yes, writing.  That’s not to say I’m a rigid stick in the mud. I am fairly flexible. Things change–of course they do–but anytime there’s a change, I like to make a note of it on my outline. 🙂

Here’s my process for plotting (discussed in more detail in this previous POST):

1) Once I’ve got an idea I’ve stewed over for a good, long while (like, months) I write a twenty-five word (hopefully) high concept pitch, which forces me to get my idea down to its true essence. Later, I use my pitch to write a three-line pitch, then a full query-type blurb.

2) Next I make a basic list of the scenes I already have in my head, which is pretty much an enormous brainstorming session.

3) Then, I tackle a beat sheet, plugging scenes into appropriate places, and coming up with new ones to fill in the gaps. The beat sheet I use is a melding of the one in Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat and the summary of steps in The Hero’s Journey.

4) Once I have my beat sheet, I make a detailed outline, scene by scene and color-coded, one I follow pretty closely once I begin to write. Of course my scene outline isn’t set in stone. I add and delete as I go, because once I start writing, the story begins to come to life and certain aspects inevitably become more or less important.

Sometimes I wish my process could be less formulaic. It seems so much more romantic to sit down with an idea and just start writing, but plotting works for me and I’m sticking with it!

Tell me… are you a plotter or a pantser?

RTW: Music and the WIP

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Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

This Week’s Topic: If your WIPs were a song, which song would they be?

I hope I’m not alone in the enormous amounts of time I spend searching for, downloading, and listening to the ideal songs for my works in progress. There’s something about the perfect playlist that sets the stage and gets me in the mood to write. Each of my WIPs have a playlist, and on those playlists there’s a song or two that speaks so perfectly to what I’m writing that it almost becomes a theme of sorts.

Take Cross My Heart (formerly Loving Max Holden), currently in re-writes. There’s lots of country on the playlist because Love Interest Max is totally into classic country (as am I :)), but there’s one song in particular that sets the mood for the story: Taylor Swift’s Mary’s Song (Oh My My My). It’s all about growing up and falling in love with your next door neighbor. My favorite lyrics: Take me back to the creek beds we turned up / Two A.M. riding in your truck and all I need is you next to me / Take me back to the time we had our very first fight/ The slamming of doors instead of kissing goodnight / You stayed outside till the morning light…

The manuscript I’m currently querying, Where Poppies Bloom, has a sort of dark and depressing playlist, which is appropriate to the mood of the story. The song that rings truest–the song that makes me think of Poppies every single time I hear it–is The Band Perry’s If I Die Young. My favorite lyrics: A penny for my thoughts, oh no, I’ll sell them for a dollar / They’re worth so much more after I’m a goner / And maybe then you’ll hear the words I been singin’ / Funny when your dead how people start listenin’…

My latest and greatest, Bus WIP!!! and I are still getting to know each other, but I’m just about 7K in and I’m starting to get into a groove. Bus WIP!!! has a playlist full of songs about coming into your own, growing up, and discovering who you are. Like the songs on my Poppies playlist, they tend to be on the slightly depressing side (Jeez… what’s with me and my penchant for painful music?), but there’s a glimmer of hope in most of them too. The song I’m currently loving most on this playlist  is Anna Nalick’s Breathe (2AM).  My favorite lyrics: “Just a day,” he said down to the flask in his fist / “Ain’t been sober, since maybe October of last year.” / Here in town you can tell he’s been down for a while / But, my God, it’s so beautiful when the boy smiles / Wanna hold him… Maybe I’ll just sing about it…

So, if your WIP was a song, which one would it be?

RTW: First Smooches

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Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

This Week’s Topic: Compare your first kiss with your favorite characters’ first kiss…

Eek… I’m sort of sad to admit that I can’t even remember the name of the first boy I kissed. I do remember the experience though, and the sentiment behind it, and it was quite similar to the first kiss of Callie and Tucker from my story Where Poppies Bloom:

            He leans in, drawing me closer with a gentle hand on the back of my neck. “I’m gonna see you tomorrow morning, right?”

            I shrug. “If you’re lucky.”

            He drifts closer, his mouth curling into a lopsided smile. “Oh, that’s how it is?”

            I’m about to reply when he cuts me off with the press of his mouth against mine. It’s tantalizingly drawn out, and it comes with the mind-blowing, Holy hell! realization that Tucker Morgan is kissing me. I let him lead, his mouth moving slow, feather light and full of restraint, teasing me until I’m almost bursting with the untapped energy between us. When he pulls away, I’m breathless.

Yeah, mine was sort of like that, what with the tentativeness and nervous energy. Now that I really think about it, every kiss I’ve ever written shares something with one of the stand-out kisses I’ve had (mostly with my husband… love ya, babe! :)). Funny how my real life experiences find their way into my writing, often without me being conscious of it.

 What about you? How does your first kiss compare to that of your characters’ or your favorite characters’?

RTW: Scarred for Life

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Road Trip Wednesday is a “Blog Carnival,” where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

This Week’s Topic: What is the story of your best scar?

Gosh, I wish I had a sensational or courageous or funny story for this one, but truth be told, my scars are pretty boring. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has never turned his wand of evil on me. While I’m fairly clumsy, my escapades more often result in bruises and broken toes (I’ve fractured two) than flesh wounds. (“‘Tis but a flesh wound!” Geez. Thank you, Monty Python.)

I do have one gnarly scar on my wrist, a result of cutting TOWARD myself with a box cutter during my oh-so-glamorous stint as part-time manager of a Bath and Body Works. My boss had to drive me to the hospital where I then had to convince multiple doctors and nurses that no, I definitely was not trying to hurt myself. My stupidity resulted in a few stitches and a big I TOLD YOU SO from my husband, who had often lectured me about cutting away from myself. Truth be told, I still cut toward myself from time to time; apparently some life lessons take longer than others to sink in.  

What’s the story behind your best scar?

RTW: My crystal ball might be broken…

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Road Trip Wednesday is a “Blog Carnival,” where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

This Week’s Topic: What do you think publishing will look like in 2111?


I wish I had an intelligent, enlightened answer to this question, but yeah… I have NO idea what publishing will look like in one-hundred years. I mean, look how much things have changed in the last hundred years. A century ago there weren’t even computers, yet now I carry around a device no bigger than a deck of cards that I can use to surf the internet, social network, take pictures, keep dates, call people, etc. So, who knows where technology and the book world will go? But, if I had to guess about the future of publishing, here are predictions I’d make:

1) Smaller, faster, better versions of eReaders will be the norm.
2)Paper books will be a luxury, something people collect and hold dear.
3) Self-publishing won’t have the stigma it does today.
4) Smaller, independent publishers will become more and more popular.
5) Bookstores will be fewer and farther between. 
6) Libraries will evolve into something like internet market places with downloadable books you can “borrow” to your eReader for a few weeks before they disappear.
7) I’ll have dozens of books published and will still be winning prestigious awards posthumously.

To be completely honest, most of the things on the above list depress me (except for number 7, obviously :)). I hate that bookstores are going bankrupt. I can’t ever see myself buying an eReader (though I certainly get their convenience) because there’s something so comforting and lovely about reading a bound book. And I worry that the ease of self-publishing will lower the quality of literature (this isn’t to say that everyone who self-publishes is incapable of writing a good story. I think we’ve seen–especially in the last few weeks–that self-publishing can be an amazing thing, but speaking in general terms, most people aren’t going to secure multi-million dollar contracts after publishing their own books.). 

So, that’s what I’ve got. Now, look into your crystal ball… What do you think publishing will look like in one-hundred years?

RTW: Book Memories

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Road Trip Wednesday is a “Blog Carnival,” where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

This Week’s Topic: What books were you obsessed with as a kid? 🙂

I was a voracious reader during my childhood. Sadly, my tastes weren’t exactly literary. I am proud to say I read (and reread) the Baby-Sitters Club, Sweet Valley Twins and Sweet Valley High series pretty much in their entirety. I was also a big fan of Beverly Cleary’s Ramona books and R.L. Stine’s Fear Street series. I had shelves and shelves of paperbacks that I deeply regret garage-saling when I grew too old (too cool?) for such tomes.

My very favorite author growing up was Judy Blume. (Who am I kidding? I still love her.) I adored Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Blubber, and Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret.  I read them repeatedly. But, my favorite of Judy’s, my favorite book of childhood really, was Just as Long as We’re Together.  

This was the cover I had!

I read it so many times the binding actually split, leaving me with two separate bits of book that I held onto and continued to read. Now that I think about it, Just as Long as We’re Together might’ve been the launching point for everything I love about YA literature today: Coming of age, dynamic families, complicated friendships, longing for unattainable boys, and evolving self-images. There are all kinds of quirky things I remember about this book, even though I haven’t read it for close to two decades: Alison’s talking dog, Steph’s love of donuts, and Rachel’s undying perfectionism. Just as Long as We’re Together even taught me about the color CHARTREUSE. 🙂

So, what about you? What books were you obsessed with as a kid?

RTW: Howdy, Neighbor!

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Road Trip Wednesday is a “Blog Carnival,” where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

This Week’s Topic: Which book character would you like most as a next door neighbor?

When I read this question, an immediate answer popped into my head. Then I spent a few hours trying to think of something different, because I figured I wouldn’t be the only one with this answer. But, I couldn’t come up with better. Really, I couldn’t come up with anything else at all, which tells me that going with my first instinct, original or not, is the way to go today. 🙂


My dream next door neighbors would be the entire Weasley clan, which means I’d get to live adjacent to the fantastic Burrow! The Weasleys’ house is one of my favorite settings from Harry Potter. It’s just so quirky. So magical, and full of warmth and love. While some might say its curb appeal is a little… shoddy, I think there’s a lot to love about the unique (um, crooked?) architecture, the wide open spaces, the orchard and the corn fields, not to mention the population of garden gnomes who reside on the property.

How cool would it be to live next door to whole family of wizards and witches? Quirky Arthur, maternal Molly, brave Bill, the outlandish twins, bumbling Ron, and Ginny, who I still can’t quite peg. And Harry, Hermione and the many members of The Order of the Phoenix are constant visitors. Plus, there’s the delicious food, the owl post, the Quidditch and the magic wands… too much awesome to list!

Who would you choose for literary next door neighbors?

RTW: Peas in a Pod

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Road Trip Wednesday is a “Blog Carnival,” where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

This Week’s Topic: Who (from real life) have you written into a book?

In the manuscript I’m currently querying, Where Poppies Bloom, Callie is sent to Oregon for the summer to help her Aunt Lucy renovate an old Victorian into a B&B. Aunt Lucy is the type of person who tells it like it is. She’s sort of eccentric, easily distracted, and nosy. Under stress, she becomes anxious. She’s an excellent cook and is really into 1980s fashion and music. In my head, Aunt Lucy looks something like Debra Messing on one of her wild, curly-haired days.

That said, please meet the inspiration for Callie’s Aunt Lucy:

My first baby, Lucy 'Pup'perman

That’s right. Fictional Aunt Lucy is based heavily on my dog, also called Lucy. They share similar characteristics: My Lucy is unpredictable, in-your-face, and a bit neurotic. Though she’s never voiced a particular taste in music, I get the impression she’s totally into Bon Jovi and Motley Crue. She doesn’t cook, but she’s passionate about peanut butter and bacon. And hello?! She’s a redhead!

What about you? Have you ever based a character on a “person” from your real life? And don’t forget to stop by YA Highway to see how everyone else responded!

RTW: Like… Anyone but myself!

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Road Trip Wednesday is a “Blog Carnival,” where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

This Week’s Topic: In honor of the release of Like Mandarin by YAHighway contributor Kirsten Hubbard…

First, I find it only appropriate to share a share a short synopsis of Like Mandarin, a book that’s been on my To-Read list for months, and just came out yesterday.

From Goodreads: It’s hard finding beauty in the badlands of Washokey, Wyoming, but 14-year-old Grace Carpenter knows it’s not her mother’s pageant obsessions, or the cowboy dances adored by her small-town classmates. True beauty is wild-girl Mandarin Ramey: 17, shameless and utterly carefree. Grace would give anything to be like Mandarin. When they’re united for a project, they form an unlikely, explosive friendship, packed with nights spent skinny-dipping in the canal, liberating the town’s animal-head trophies, and searching for someplace magic. Grace plays along when Mandarin suggests they run away together. Blame it on the crazy-making wildwinds plaguing their Badlands town. Because all too soon, Grace discovers Mandarin’s unique beauty hides a girl who’s troubled, broken, and even dangerous. And no matter how hard Grace fights to keep the magic, no friendship can withstand betrayal.

So, who did I want to be like when I was Grace’s age? Um, anyone but myself? Thirteen, fourteen, and fifteen were not my best years–in fact, I’d probably go so far as to call them my WORST. Braces, perm (I know!), and very little confidence… Really, did anyone have a good time in middle school?

Much like Mandarin‘s Grace, I was envious of people who were full of poise and self-assurance. People who didn’t seem to register  or care about what others thought of them. People who did what felt right without days of consideration and doubt. I wanted to be someone who flew free without a worry in the world.

As I’ve grown up and into myself, I’ve learned that no one’s like that all the time. We’ve all wondered if we’re good enough, we’ve all stressed about a big decision, and we’ve all felt left out. So, while I would have been happy being just about anyone other than myself back then, I think now I’ve found confidence that only comes with time and experience.

So, who’d you want to be like when you were younger? And don’t forget to stop by YAHighway to see what everyone’s posting!