GO CONTEMPORARY YA!

FOR CHRISTY'S CAMPAIGNER CHALLENGE #2, GO HERE.  OR SCROLL DOWN A POST! THANKS!

you may have missed erica's "grains of sand" post.  to recap, we're on a mission:

LET'S BOOST CONTEMPORARY YA SALES! 

INCREASE THE DEMAND! 

the past few months i've been racking up my own list of YA reads, especially realistic YA reads. (i'll be honest, many titles are still on my TBR list.  i can't wait to devour them though!)   i'll share my list with you!

HAVE YOU CHECKED OUT THESE AUTHORS OR TITLES YET? 

*note:  if the spacing is all wonky on this post, i tried to fix it at least half a dozen + 2 times.

Meg Cabot — She has many titles you will enjoy, especially The Princess Diaries series.

Sarah Dessen — Read everything she's published.  You'll especially love The Truth About Forever, This Lullaby, Keeping the Moon.

• Maureen Johnson — Read all her titles.  Definitely read Suite Scarlett and Girl at Sea.

Don't msis Gingerbread, Shrimp, and Cupcake by Rachel Cohn

Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and  David Levithan

North of Beautiful by Justina Chen

Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway

Into the Wild Nerd Yonder by Julie Halpern

Dream Factory and Scrambled Eggs at Midnight by Brad Barkley & Heather Hepler

The Liar Society by Lisa and Laura Roecker

 

Anna and The French Kiss and Lola and The Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

 The Summer of Skinny Dipping by Amanda Howells

Rich Boys by Jenny O'Connel 

• Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr

•  Mandy Hubbard --Ripple and Pride and Prejudice and You Wish

 

(Mandy Hubbard as) Amanda Grace-- Getting Caught and But I Love Him written with Cyn Balog

Jandy Nelson--The Sky is Everywhere

 

• Sarah Darer Littman's Confessions of a Closet Catholic, Purge, Want to go Private, and Life, After

campaigner challenge number 2: LAYERS OF IMAGO

The second campaigner challenge starts September 22 and ends October 3. 

GO HERE TO FIND THE LINKY OF OTHER ENTRIES AND TO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITES BY "LIKING" THEM UNDER THEIR ENTRY NUMBER!

Mine is #158:  LAYERS OF IMAGO

The Challenge is:

Write a blog post in 200 words or less, excluding the title. It can be in any format, whether flash fiction, non-fiction, humorous blog musings, poem, etc. The blog post should:

• include the word "imago" in the title
• include the following 4 random words: "miasma," "lacuna," "oscitate," "synchronicity,"

If you want to give yourself an added challenge (optional and included in the word count), make reference to a mirror in your post.

For those who want an even greater challenge (optional), make your post 200 words EXACTLY!

The very first Campaigner's blog I visited had this:

Glossary:
Imago: Insect in its sexually mature adult stage after metamorphosis.
Miasma: Noxious atmosphere.
Lacuna: A gap or space.
Oscitate: Gape or Yawn.
Synchronicity: Events that happen together by chance

AND I AM IN LOVE WITH HER FOR IT. PLEASE VISIT AND FOLLOW: ANGELA'S CHEERIOS AND PEARLS NECKLACE STORIES BLOG

Here's Christy's Entry:

BTW, I ACTUALLY FOLLOWED ALL THE RULES!
 I INCLUDED ALL THE WORDS.
AND I WROTE IT IN EXACTLY 200 WORDS. 
(I'VE NEVER DONE THAT BEFORE!!!!!)

LAYERS OF IMAGO

The miasma leaves billions of imago dead. The ground looks snow-covered. I’ve seen pictures of the last snowfall, The Blizzard of 2015, so I can say for certain. The one box I have from the Old Life holds a few of those, kept carefully hidden in the lacuna of my hillside home. If any of the Units found out I hadn’t handed the pictures, mirrors and other mementos over to be burned, I’d be thrown into the Lake of the Dead. I figure the day that happens will be the day of the Trials anyway. 

I believe wholly in synchronicity. Isn’t that what happened the day the Old Life ended? Newspaper clippings in my box tell all about the volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, and fires. Articles tell all about when they obliterated three-fourths of the world, leaving only the Few. 

It’s too bad Judgment hadn’t had more common sense on who made up the Few. In my opinion, the majority of us are the most ruthless, barbaric, and greedy of all Livingkind. We adapt to our environment, sure, but what good is that when we kill each other off at a faster rate than the miasma or oscitated earth ever could?

A cute kid story, a thought about princesses, and a status update

What does the fourth day of fall have to do with music? Absolutely nothing. Neither does this next story, except I think it's funny. And so you get a cute kid story with your music. Do with them as you will. (just don't leave us for long.)

And yes, there's a status update at the end. And no, it's not "we did nothing."

My (erica) son Jacob is five and a total social butterfly. When he turned 2, he could only say 8 words and we had him evaluated for special needs (which is really, really heartwrenching when you're an early childhood special education teacher, let me tell you!). He still doesn't have all his sounds and his memory for words is a little, well, short [i.e. almost nonexistent] - it takes him awhile to learn new vocabulary words, his articulation is a bit muffled, and names don't like to stick. He calls one girl in his class "the naughty girl with polka-dots on her face).

But man, he loves people. And he loves to talk (when he can get his point across). And, um, well, he loves girls most of all. Case in point:

Last Friday, his kindergarten teacher was talking about things that grow up. People, plants, animals - everything gets big eventually. So she asked them individually about what it means to get big. Which invariably led to answers of what they wanted to be when they grew up. Here were their answers (my classroom is across the hall, so I got to see where she wrote them down, so these are roughly correct):

Boy #1: Baseball player
Boy #2: Football player
Girl #1: Princess
Girl #2: God's Princess
Boy #3: Cop
Girl #3: Princess
Boy #4 (aka erica's son): Well, I guess if there are gonna' be this many princesses, I'd better be a prince!



So many to choose from...

So, seriously, what is it with the princesses? Is this what our girls are aspiring to? Because as a preschool teacher, yes, it's what every girl wants to be. No public service message here, necessarily. But why are so many beautiful girls becoming princesses by seemingly chance? Kiss a frog, sure, here's your crown. Take care of short men, sure, here's your crown. Fall asleep for years, sure, here's your crown. Also, your beautiful dresses, mani/pedi, flowers galore, and an adoring nation. Congratulations, you're perfect.

Okay, maybe a tiny public service message. But, um, no preaching. (erica takes a deep breath and moves on) (mostly because she's the one with the son who now wants to be a prince)

What else was I going to say today? Oh, yeah, statuses. Stati. What we did this week.

erica: I loaded my ms onto my Kindle. Heck, I critique everyone else's books on it, why not my own? And you know what - it totally worked. This rocks. I am having more fun editing now than I had. .  . well, ever. And that's saying a lot, because I really like to edit. (and I reserve the right to start most of my blog sentences with the word And. You know, to get it out of my system). I'm on chapter 8 of a 17 chapter ms. yes, it's the same one I've worked on for 2 years, but now I love it again. It even reads like a book. So exciting.

christy: Finished another full edit of her ms and is ready for round 2 of crit partners. Hopes to query soon. (she probably has more to say about this, so I'll let her. for now, let me say, she's really excited. she emailed me late last night to brag let me know!)

How about you? Any cute kid stories? Princess stories and/or bashing? (okay, I can't be the only princess basher out there, can I???) Status updates?

Check out these other members of WS4U! 

http://www.writersally.blogspot.com/
http://jc-martin.com/fighterwriter/
http://waibelworld.blogspot.com
http://NicoleZoltack.blogspot.com
http://susanfieldswriter.blogspot.com
http://skmayhew.blogspot.com/p/tuesday-wip-status.html
http://margoberendsen.blogspot.com
http://www.sherryauger.blogspot.com
http://www.susanoloier.blogspot.com--in/
http://carrieannebrownian.wordpress.com/

writing vs. running

Why writing is better than running.

I can listen to music without earphones.
Sometimes they hurt. Or fall out.  (I have small ears.)

The mood for writing is perfectly set in overcast, stormy, sunny, or windy weather.
I only enjoy running on still, sunny days.

I can eat and drink while writing without getting a sideache.
I hate carrying a water bottle or wearing one of those water belts while running. I tend to stop at hospitals to use the bubbler (aka water fountain).

I don't have to stretch before or after writing.
Yeah, sometimes I skip that after my runs, too.  But it causes stiffness and pain.

I can write AND watch my kids at the same time. 
I don't have to sneak out before the crack of dawn to get my run in before the rest of the household is up and needing breakfast and clothing and to be driven somewhere.  Or in need of constant supervision.  You know, from my couch, with laptop close at hand.
For Christmas, I'm asking for a jogging stroller.  So there goes this excuse.

I can write throughout my pregnancy without asking my doctor's permission or worrying about my heart rate.
I bought a heart monitor during my first pregnancy.  I couldn't even walk without my heart rate going too high.  And I was in pretty good shape in those days.  (Today I can't even walk up stairs without losing my breath. So I don't bother trying to do more.  Although I did 15 plies in second position while waiting for my toast to pop up this morning.)

And I got a full ms written and edited and revised much more quickly since running disappeared from my life. 

I suppose I'd better get another ms done before February when I start training for a half-marathon.

Because even though writing is WAY better than running, I miss putting on my tennis shoes and ear phones and getting out in the cool fall air for miles of exercise. 

I also miss wine.  Oops.  Off-topic.

That's my cue to end this post.

Do you write and run?  When's your ideal time/weather for each? Does your running soundtrack differ from your writing soundtrack?

 Have a fantastic day, Friends!  Thanks for stopping by. 

-christy

What We Did on Summer Vacation

Before you read this, you should know three things: 1. erica is responsible for this post. 2. erica generally writes, blogs, and edits while her kids watch cartoons in the same room. 3. erica has never met a blogfest whose rules she has been able to follow. (sorry, Michael, but you know me. plus, all our pictures had our kids in them and our husbands are NOT okay with us posting them. so you get a goofy song)

Um, this post is way funnier if you watch Phineas and Ferb and know the theme song. If not, watch this video and remember the tune (or open it in another tab and listen while reading our lyrics). Or, you know, pretend this is some really weird poetry. Your choice. :)  (is my word count ALREADY over? oops.)

 

Erica and Christy Almost Forgot To Do It All

There's 104 days of summer vacation

And school comes along just to end it

So the annual problem for all sorts of teachers
Is finding a good way to spend it.

LIKE WE DID!

Raising four boys and
Incubating another
And making lots and lots of food!

Discovering writing that kinda' sucks (HEY!)
While hoping our "voices" are good!

Going camping and
Creating lots of words
While locating internet domains! (they're over here!)

Catching butterflies
Attending Writeoncon
While trying not to go insane! (christy!)

As you can see
There's a whole lot of stuff we did
Before school started this fall (Come on kids)

So stick with us 'cause erica and christy
Are trying to do it all!
So stick with us 'cause erica and christy are
Gonna do it all!

(Bloggers! erica and christy almost forgot to visit you!) (oops!)

(Michael, I tried to work in your visit with christy this summer, but 300 words isn't a lot and I'm already over by like 200%)