Be Yourself Online

I read a blog post recently about The 10 Commandments of Social Networking for Writers. It's a great post so you should head on over and read it. Go ahead, I'll wait.

Good, you remembered to come back. Here's a cookie.

Anyhow, the article got me thinking about how easy it is to pretend that your someone you aren't online. You can 'show' the online world whatever you want. You can pretend to be younger or thinner or hide behind an avator or image. But why would you want to pretend to be someone you aren't?

It's a lot easier to just be yourself. And being real, I think, makes a person so much more relate-able. Makes a person more friendly. Makes a person someone I want to be friends with.

So keep that in mind when you tweet or are on FB. Who are you pretending to be? Or are you just being yourself? It makes a difference.

Me? I just like to be me. I hope you like me too. :)

Inspiring Mondays

Credit for picture

I think this picture has so many possibilities. The explorer - where did he come from? What is he looking for? Is he hiding from something or someone? And the house - what's inside? Is it a temple? Or is it hiding a terrible secret beneath its stone floors?

And another issue of The Medieval Chronicle is now available! Click here to read my article. Enjoy! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Credit for picture

Happy Thanksgiving all my blogging friends! I hope you enjoy lots of food and time with your loved ones.

I'm thanking for my family, who makes me happy and lifts my spirits when I'm feeling down.

I'm thankful for my friends, who love me despite my craziness.

I'm thankful that I'm able to spend my days at home, with my two adorable and precious sons.

I'm thankful that I'm a writer.

I'm thankful for the writing community, without which I surely would have pulled out all of my hair by now.

I'm thankful for my critique partners, my beta readers, my friends that I bounce ideas off of, that they aren't afraid to tell me what works and what doesn't, for helping to make my writing shine.

I'm thankful for all of you and your friendship.

What are you thankful for?

Writing Backward

Yesterday I wrote about Alexia's Pen and YA and MG. I ended by saying that I was going to make the story darker.

By adding a curse.

Here's the new query letter for Alexia's Pen:

Fifteen-year-old aspiring novelist Alexia loves the colorful pen the mysterious Arthus, a recent transfer student, gives to her. The pen is special – anything it writes comes true. When the pen writes of its own accord about a mystical Land of Imagining, Alexia learns she’s not just an ordinary girl, she’s an All-Knower. So is Arthus, and her mother.

The rest of the magical All-Knowers are in terrible danger. The Head Demon seeks to enslave and kill them, determined to rule the Land of Imagining. Alexia is able to control the All-Knowers with her pen, but the power comes at a cost – each time she writes with the pen, an All-Knower becomes a demon. After the Head Demon kidnaps her family, Alexia must find a way to go to the Land of Imagining. She will do anything, even if it means giving up her power, to save her family and her people and to prevent the Land of Imagining from becoming the Land of Terror.

So now the query letter is finished. I just need to go back and revise the story so that the story reflects the query. Talk about writing backward! :) I think the curse definitely makes the story darker and more YA in tone.

Have you ever written backward before?

Whoops! MG versus YA

I've mentioned my fantasy YA novel, Alexia's Pen before. I had the honor of placing in a recent writing contest on a blog and my awesome prize was a query critique by the amazing Beth Revis, author of Across the Universe.

She read my initial query and asked if the story was actually MG.

Oh... can we say whoops?

It's been years since I read a MG story. Well, other than Harry Potter that is.

The thought that Alexia's Pen might actually be MG startled me. But then to some extent, it made sense. After all, I started to write the story in the 6th grade.

And I'm no stranger to blurring lines. Take my Kingdom of Arnhem series. It's intended for adults but can be enjoyed by young adults as well. I purposely wrote those books that way.

So now I have a decision to make. Do I try to cut down an already tight story? Because at 79k, that's considered too long for MG. Or do I try to make the story more YA by making it edgier?

I'm not opposed to making Alexia's Pen MG. That doesn't bother me. What bothers me is that I thought it was YA. So now I'm doing to make Alexia's Pen more YA. It's gonna get darker. A lot darker. There won't be the possibility of a question of MG versus YA anymore.

Has this ever happened to you? Has a story started one way and ended up a different genre? Do you know the cut-off between MG and YA?