Pictures and a Giveaway!

Let's all say this out loud: Kasie is an awful blogger. Good, now that we've gotten that off our chests, I must get to the conference post I promised.

I loved conference. I got to hang out with these people:

(from left to right: Jenn Johansson, Sara Larson, Renee Collins, me)

And these people:

(from left to right: very awesome people)

And this person:

(My amazing agent, Michelle Wolfson)

Also more of my favorite people who I didn't pose for pictures with.

No, I did not wear the same shirt all weekend, why do you ask?

Also! I got to go to some amazing classes. I will talk about one of those classes today. It was taught by Elana Johnson (whom I adore), author of POSSESSION and SURRENDER (coming soon). She based the class on the book by Blake Snyder called SAVE THE CAT. It's actually a screenwriting book, but it works perfectly for novel writing as well. Now, I'll be the first to admit that I'm not an author who reads books on learning the craft. I read loads of books, have my whole life, and feel that's where I've learned the craft (a lifetime of reading it). But, BUT! this class was amazing. It was basically a loose outlining process for those of us who hate outlining. Elana talked about dividing your novel into three acts, and each act needs to contain certain elements.

I will now proceed to do a crappy job summarizing. If you want details, I suggest you buy the book. Act 1 is your opening act. It covers about the first 75 pages of your novel and includes your theme, set-up, inciting incident, and a debate (your MC debating whether or not they want/need/can leave the world as they know it and go into the "new"). Act 1 is basically the world as you MC knows and has lived up until this point.

Act 2 starts the new world. (This doesn't only apply to fantasy/paranormal) A new world, meaning different from the one your MC has lived. The MC should always go into this new world of their own accord. They should never be forced. That doesn't mean they can't drag their feet or think it's a bad idea, but they must make the choice on their own. In Act 2 a lot of stuff happens (note me keeping my promise of a crappy summary.)

Act 3 is the blending of the two worlds. New hero, new person. It's the finale. Your MC gathers his/her team, executes plan, fails at plan, digs deep, executes new plan.

Anyway, this was a 2 hour class so that should tell you just how craptastic this summary was. But, really, you should get the book. Very helpful. Elana pointed out that even if you don't outline, once you've finished your first draft you can make sure you have all the key elements. You might discover you're missing a "beat" and need to add it. Great class.

And because I love Elana so much and appreciated her class and the work she put into it, I am giving away a copy of her book POSSESSION (which I also love). If you want to be entered to win, just leave a comment. I'll announce the winner next Friday.

Conference Time!!!

As I'm frantically packing and preparing for the writer's conference I'll be attending this weekend, I thought I'd take a moment to talk about why I make a point to attend them.

Writing can be a hard, frustrating, lonely journey. It's full of hurdles that not a lot of people outside of the industry understand. And I don't blame them. I don't try to understand the ins and outs of every career (unless I'm writing about it). So writer's conferences for me are a chance to be with people that totally get me. People that inspire me and teach me and rejuvenate me. I always learn something new, whether about marketing or writing or networking. And I always, always meet new people.

My agent will be attending this particular conference and that makes me happy too. So hopefully I'll have some helpful posts to share with you on the other side of this weekend. If they aren't helpful, I'll at least have pictures. :)

Hooray for Jenn!!!

So, my awesome friend, Jenn sold her book INSOMNIA!!! I adore this book. Actually, 'adore' is the wrong word because it's not so much adorable as it is creeptastic. Here's the blurb from goodreads:

Sixteen-year-old Parker spends every night trapped in the dreams of the last person he made eye contact with, and it’s killing him. He misses soccer practice, falls asleep at the wheel, and his mom thinks he has a drug problem. His exhaustion from never reaching the deeper levels of sleep is getting worse every day, and he knows his time is running out. Until he meets Mia...


Tell me that doesn't sound awesome! That's because it is! Go tell her congrats if you get a chance. She's celebrating the news on her blog.

In which I send you somewhere else

I posted today over on Friday the Thirteeners. Check it out. It's all about me making very hard decisions (this may be sarcastic).

OH, and Colton Dixon getting voted off American Idol last night?!? So mad. I will probably rant more about this next week. How am I supposed to get my inspiration for my most current boy in my current WIP without seeing him every week?? I knew I should've voted when he sang those songs.

Need a laugh?

This made me laugh so hard yesterday that I felt the need to share.



I think I need to start using LOL as 'lots of love' and see what happens. Okay, back to work on edits for me. My goal is to finish them by the end of the week. I can do it. Send LOL my way.

Spectacularness

Well hello, blog, fancy meeting you here. Yeah........hi, everyone. It's been a while. And I really wish I had something spectacular to say now. Maybe that's my problem. I've been waiting around for spectacularness and it's just not happening. Although, I did see The Hunger Games (twice) and that was pretty spectacular. I thought I was going to be team Gale all the way (because, hello, it's Liam Hemsworth.....which, btw, can I just say, the Hemsworths have the best gene pool in the world. Those parents should've had a few more kids because their combination obviously worked very well. I think a picture is in order.).

There are actually three brothers, but I couldn't find a good pic with all three. On another note (or the same one) I'm very happy with Australia's contributions to the world. They are doing very well per capita in my opinion.

Now, where was I? The Hemsworth brothers got my mind all jumbled. Oh yes, team Gale. I thought I was going to be team Gale all the way, but Josh really did an amazing job. He surprised me and got me right back on the Peeta train. So that made me happy because I adored Peeta in the books and I really wanted to adore him in the movies too.

So cute.

Also, I discovered a new actor in this movie who I didn't know existed before. Wes Bentley. I know he pretty much played the devil in the movie, but come on. Look at him. Team Seneca anyone?




So anyway, I've been waiting for spectacularness and have just been trudging along without any. I figured I better post without it. But see, when I post, it comes (as evidenced by the above pictures). :)

My big issue is that I'm reluctant to give writing advice (in case you couldn't tell over the course of the last 4 years of this blog). Why? Well, because I usually end up changing my mind or finding the exception. I can never give definitive advice. Some things work for some people and not for others. And to just constantly tell people to write what you love and keep writing and never give up, seems a bit repetitive. But there you have it. I've said it again. But, if you ever have a question, feel free to ask and maybe I'll turn it into a blog post where I say my opinion followed by lots of: 'but this doesn't work for everyone' and 'do what's best for you'.

Anyone have any fun plans for spring break? If not, go look at the Hemsworth brothers again.

Vloggin' it up

You want to see me make a fool of myself on my very first solo vlog ever (a video blog, in case you don't know blogging lingo [hi, mother])?? No? Okay, that's good.

Fine, I'll give you the link. I tackled my first dare on Friday the Thirteeners. I don't know if the dare scared me more or the whole putting myself on video for everyone to see. So maybe technically I faced two fears?