Wednesday, January 25, 2012

And the Winner of A Million Suns is....

The winner of a signed copy of A MILLION SUNS by Beth Revis is:

Rai29!!!


Congrats! Please email me your address at aemartin @ midnightwords.com and I will ship the book to you as soon as possible.

I will definitely be doing more of these giveaways periodically, so there will be more opportunities to win great author signed books. The next one may be as soon as mid February so keep checking back!

Monday, January 23, 2012

Giveaway reminder & plunging into a new WIP world

Last day to enter to win a signed copy of A MILLION SUNS by Beth Revis! Just comment here.

In terms of what writerly things I've been up to lately, I started a new WIP a couple days ago and have already chugged my way to over 17k words, which is all the more surprising because I am again writing without a real outline. I was surprised when I managed to write my NaNo novel like a panster, but part of me thought...eh that was a fluke! Guess not though! I wrote a paragraph summary, wrote notes about characters, and kept bullet points of possible plot ideas as they came to me, but didn't do my usual outline before I started writing. It's a little scary, but I've also found it to be more fun and liberating than I'd thought. I definitely don't have everything figured out, and I know that what happened with my NaNo novel will happen with this one: I will constantly be going back and adding scenes and changing things as the story fleshes out and my ideas change, but I realized that as long as I have some slight idea of where things are going I can keep writing. When I do sit down and try to figure out where things are going, I realized I get a little frustrated because I can't quite see the path clearly, but when I just write, it's less pressure filled. And I love it when a scene I wrote or a character I introduced without yet knowing the meaning of it becomes something I can use later on. Oh my, am I becoming a panster?! Not that it's a bad thing, I guess I'm just having a bit of a writer's evolution. Awesome!

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Book Giveaway! Win a SIGNED copy of 'A Million Suns' by Beth Revis

Last night I went to a book event that featured some great YA authors, including Beth Revis, and I snagged a signed copy of her latest release A MILLION SUNS to give away! All you have to do to have a chance at winning is:

1. Follow my blog
2. Leave a comment on this post
3. Optional: If you also blog or tweet about this giveaway you earn an extra spot in the drawing (meaning when I gather the numbers to draw from, your number will be there twice instead of once. If you comment, blog, AND tweet you get three chances. Remember to leave links)


Giveaway closes on 1/25/12, which is when I will draw and announce the winner.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Anyone seen my handwriting?

The other day I had to write a birthday card for my brother, and while I was writing I realized that it actually felt a little strange...to be writing. Then I took a second to think about when the last time I had written was. Now of course I write...when I sign receipts or when I scribble down a grocery list, but I'm talking about my actual, proper, taking time to do it handwriting. And that....I haven't seen in a while. Why? Because everything has become about typing; I typed this blog post, I type on Twitter and Facebook, I type emails, and of course, I type my books. But that wasn't always the case.

My first four books were handwritten in spiral notebooks, so were the outlines and notes. And I loved it. For a few months it would be me, a pen, a notebook, a penlight, and I'd be on my bed writing while the rest of my family was sleeping. Then I'd type the books up. Time consuming, yes, but I loved it. Then I got older and realized the value of saving time, and books 5 onward started as Word documents from the get go. Now I won't go back to hand writing books, but I have to say there is some nostalgia for those days.

The only creative writing I keep hand written nowadays is poetry, I have a much treasured notebook where I write my poetry, and with those I take my time and write them all pretty like...but it's been at least six months since I've written a poem! Sigh.

Where I grew up, one of my school subjects was Penmanship and honing our cursive handwriting was taking very seriously, so I spent years learning the proper way to write cursive letters and in the end I came away with nice cursive handwriting that leans slightly to the right. I mean, how many ten years old write like this (maybe they do, what do I know about how 10 yr olds write these days):






(This is from a story I wrote for class)

But these days when I actually have reason to write something and write it properly, it feels a little strange, and that kinda makes me go...yikes. I kinda miss holding a pen and writing something meaningful....something beyond grocery lists and receipts, so I think I'll make an effort to write more, if not actual books then maybe notes for my books, and maybe a poetry kick will come in some time soon. See you soon handwriting.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

The Other Things I do

Writing is my number one passion and endeavor and always will be, but I'm also an artist, so drawing, painting, and making things is another passion of mine. I wanted to take a minute to promote myself a little through my blog. I make handmade cards and other accessories such as cell phone cases, ipad and book sleeves and pillows through Etsy here: TsukiStar, and I recently launched a Facebook page here: Facebook Tsuki Star. I'd love if you could hop over to FB and give the page a "Like," and I'm also running a promo today where you can get a free card by referring a friend to like my page (the friend gets a free card too). My cards are good for anyone, but especially kids in my opinion, so if you have kids or have a lot of kids in your life, please check it out!

Some pics: