Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Celebrating the Good Things with a Giveaway

I love New Year's because it feels like you get to start over again. All the mistakes you've made in the last year are packed in a little box and placed on a shelf labeled "Occasional Shameful Nostalgic Thoughts." There are only things to look forward to, the potential productiveness of the upcoming days not yet marred by procrastination and failure.

Blogiversaries sort of have the same implications.

These dates bring forth the possibilities of all the posts you have yet to write and all the things you'll do to have even more to write about. It makes you speculate about all the blogs you'll read, the blogs you'll discover, the people you'll meet through those blogs.

However, with this post I wanted to let speculations of what will happen rest and focus on what has already happened. It's been two years since I first posted on this blog. I've done a lot of things in that time.

I finished my first rewrite of THE LULLABY which was my main goal when I began on this Internet journey. I've completed the first drafts of THINKING OF YOU, SHADOWMAN, and GHOST SISTER plus gotten ideas for plenty of other projects. I've become a two-time winner of NaPoWriMo and wrote a short story almost every week for a year with the Chrysalis Experiment. Three pieces of my flash fiction were published in an anthology called CAMPAIGNER CHALLENGES 2011. I've experienced my first few rejections and started working on my first round of revisions.

What have you accomplished in the past year?

In celebration of these things, I'm hosting a giveaway. I went through my bookshelves and picked out three books for the occasion. They're all been read, but are still in great shape.

Girl Meets Boy edited by Kelly Milner Halls

What do guys and girls really think?

Twelve of the most dynamic and engaging YA authors writing today team up for this one-of-a-kind collection of he said/she said stories - he tells if from the guy's point of view, she tells it from the girl's. Stories of love and heartbreak, like the good-looking jock who falls for a dangerous girl and the flipside of the toxic girl who never learns to be loved; a basketball star and the artistic (and shorter) boy she never knew she wanted; and a gay boy looking for love online and the girl who could help make it happen, teach that us that relationships become complicated because there are two sides to every story.

The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler

It's 1996, and Josh and Emma have been neighbors their whole lives. They've been best friends almost as long - up until last November, when everything changed. Things have been awkward ever since, but when Josh's family gets an America Online CD-ROM in the mail, his mom makes him bring it over so Emma can install it on her new computer. When they sign on, they're automatically logged onto Facebook...but Facebook hasn't been invented yet. Josh and Emma are looking at their profiles fifteen years in the future. Their spouses, careers, homes, and status updates - it's all there. But it's not what they expected. And every time they refresh their pages, their futures change. As they grapple with the ups and downs of what their lives hold, they're forced to confront what they're doing right - and wrong - in the present.

The List by Siobhan Vivian

An intense look at the rules of high school attraction - and the price that's paid for them.

It happens every year. A list is posted, and one girl from each grade is chosen as the prettiest, and another is chosen as the ugliest. Nobody knows who makes the list. It almost doesn't matter. The damage is done the minute it goes up.

This is the story of eight girls, freshman to senior, "pretty" and "ugly." And it's also the story of how we see ourselves, and how other people see us, and the tangled connection of the two.



a Rafflecopter giveaway

13 comments:

  1. Ooh, you awesome person! Rejections! *stares at her own editing waiting to be done* That'll be my goal for the coming year. To get rejections. And then maybe an acceptance. ;)

    Over the past year I - wrote 2.5 first drafts (one is still in progress), edited a novel for the first time ever which I was pretty excited about, and finished my first year with all college courses. :D Can't wait for what'll happen going forward!

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    1. I've gotten three so far. Still looking for that acceptance. Right now I'm working on getting smaller pieces published while I edit, revise, and rewrite!

      Those are great achievements and definitely something to be proud of. ^^

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  2. Congrats on your accomplishments, Brooke, those are definitely ones to be proud of. I, too, got three flash stories in the Campaigner Challenges of 2011. Maybe that's were we met. :) I'm especially impressed with your stories that you wrote for the Chrysalis Experiment. That was hard.

    Congrats on your blogversary, too. :)

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    1. Actually, I think we might have met in March when I had my month that was focused on others. But I'm not sure. :) Thank you.

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  3. Congratulations on everything, blogoversary, writing, blogging, living, being young, etc. etc.

    I'm entering the contest. I literally read everything these days. From any YA book to World War 2 non-fiction.

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  4. Those books sound amazing!

    I'm very glad that you and Madeline joined the Chrysalis Experiment & I got to know you both more through your blogs. i always forget my own blogoversary...it's in early December. Maybe this year I'll remember it ;)

    I too love the coming of a new year. I always feel so incredibly inspired and energetic!

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  5. Oops, forgot to mention that I tagged you ;)

    http://thefarseas.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/the-game-of-7s-meme.html

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    1. Does that mean you're going to enter? ;)

      I'm also glad that I got to join though I'm slightly disappointed that I didn't get to see more of your stories. And don't worry, if you want I can remind you. :)

      I'll check out the tag, though I've already done that one so I may have to pass. But I probably won't because of that whole "obligation" thing.

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    2. Hey, definitely don't feel obligated ;) You can just acknowledge it and move on. I never do the same tag thingy twice anymore, but I still refer to the tags in my blog. :D

      Re: my stories, well I've been working on revising them this year. I may stick them all together in a compilation to be published at some point...not including the longer ones that may or may not turn into novels, though. I do want to try & pub some of them but not sure what success I'll have there. :)

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  6. I entered the contest, however I wasn't sure if you wanted to send stuff to Australia, as it can be quite costly :) I don't mind if I don't win :D

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    1. Oooh. I didn't think about you being in Australia. :/ I don't know if I can ship that far. I'll have to see.

      For some reason I've been feeling much more relaxed about everything so I might just do that with the tag. However, I also might decide to do it with my newest WIP. We'll see. ;)

      Oooh. Sounds fun. I really hope they pan out. I would like to read more of them. I'm also trying to do the same thing with the publishing.

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  7. I've picked up The Future of Us a few times, but haven't read it yet. The premise of The List sounds really good. I'm looking it up now.

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    1. If you read THE LIST, let me know what you think. I allowed myself to get too excited so it was a let down. Pretty good base story though.

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