I've been tagged!

The fabulous DawnAlexander  tagged me in her

Tell Me Your Story Tuesday

blog post.

Now it's your turn!

The rules are:

1. Go to page 77 in my current manuscript
2. Go to line 7
3. Copy the next 7 lines/paragraphs and post them as they're written (no cheating!) 
4. Pass the meme on to 7 other writers

So before I share my 7 paragraphs, here’s my blurb about my SEEK…

YA SF/Paranormal Romance

When shadows bite, it’s time to fight back. Seventeen-year-old SEEK agent Keira Donavan knows her job—Search, Evade, Extract, and Kill the parasitic shadows, called Khayal. But when she encounters Jonathan Steed, her green-eyed sweet talking human target, she learns her life is a lie. Bitten by a Khayal, the huntress becomes the hunted. Keira and her unlikely ally, Jonathan, form a crusade of teenagers to resist an even more formidable adversary, their own government.

And here is my 7 from page 77…

“Spare me the speech.” I push back, knocking him out of the way and jerk on the cabin’s door, but the dumb handle doesn’t budge.

“Keira, I am attracted to you. That’s the problem. I feel – I feel bound to you. But, I don’t… I didn’t think you wanted…”

“I don’t.” I keep my back to him, fighting the angry tears lodged in my throat. “So you can lighten up. How do you open this friggen thing?” I shake the metal handle violently this time. I need air, space, sanity. I need to run.

He means nothing to me, I tell myself and beg my heart to believe it.

He brushes against me and grabs the handle, lifts it gently and watches my face as the door swings open. With one foot hoisted in the air, I’m ready to leap down the stairs into complete darkness, but I halt when Janet’s cool voice yanks my head around.

“I’ll wait for you,” her satiny voice purrs at Jonathan.

Foul thoughts stream in my head.

Thanks for playing:

Julianne Douglas

Susan Spann 
L J Cohen 
Arabella Stokes

If you'd like to play too, post your link in the comments below.

 

It’s Conference Time Again!

In case I haven’t told you, I have a new addiction…writers’ conferences!

The first conference I attended was the DFW Writers'Conference 2011 and it was the best thing I could’ve done as an aspiring author. It’s been a little over a year, and it’s time to return to #DFWcon (follow the twitter feed to see what all the fuss is about).

Before attending DFWcon last year all I knew about the world of writing, querying, publishing, and networking, I’d learned online, and let me tell you…it wasn’t much. So if you’re not attending conferences and you’re an aspiring author, here’s why you should be…

The People!

Writers’ conferences are packed with likeminded people in all stages of their literary journeys. Publishers, editors, agents, authors, and writers…just like us. People who are happy to talk with you and share their advice and their experience, people who listen and can identify with your struggle and know firsthand how lonely and confusing writing can be. And who also understand the drive and passion behind the words and the burning desire to share them with the world. Book nerds united. It's awesome!

The Vast Array of Knowledge

Not only are writers’ conferences chock full of so many classes you’ll feel as though you should’ve earned your PHD in a matter of days, but what you learn outside the classes, is also a hidden blessing of brilliance. Mingle, mix and be merry. 

The Inspiration

Oh my gosh, the inspiration never ends. Hundreds, thousands even, of mega-creative minds whirling around you from sun up to sun down. Success stories abound, authors sharing how a short time ago they were sitting right where you are. Agents sharing how they found author X at a conference and publishers sharing the current trends in the market and predicting where the next big flux is headed. Soak it all in.

The Possibilities

Beside the incredible opportunity to pitch to agents and editors, aside from the mass amounts of learning to hone your craft and perfect your voice, there are other – maybe even more important – opportunities to be found at a conference…uplifting and always supportive friendships. Find them, nurture them. They'll lift you up when you're down and pop-the-cork when it's time to celebrate.

Last year I met four of the most amazing women/writers (in my opinion) ever. We met online (this is why you should visit #DFWcon) and donned purple ribbons to recognize one and other at the conference. We attended classes together, got humiliated at the Gong Show together, ate together and cheered each other on as we worked up the courage to pitch our manuscripts to agents (well, Sharla Lovelace [her book, The Reason is You] had recently landed her awesome agent Jessica Faust at BookEnds, so she wasn’t pitching, but she was the best cheerleader) and we made bonds that will last a lifetime. Okay, so it’s only been a year and a half, but you know when you can just tell? These girls are Friends with a capital F (for FabFive). And the connections haven’t stopped. It has been but a ripple in my pond, continuously expanding. 

And if you need more proof to convince you that conferences (especially DFWcon) is where it’s at, check out my sweet friend (and member of the FabFive), Lindsay Cummings and her success story (she met her agent last year at DFWcon!) here and her blog here.

 Here's last year’s picture.

Left to right, Lindsay Cummings, Sharla Lovelace, Candie Leigh Campbell [me], Janet B Taylor and Dawn Alexander

Follow us on Twitter:

@Dawn_Alexander

@Janet_B_Taylor

@lindsaycwrites

@sharlalovelace

@candiecampbell

Cheers to Bad Ass Writers: Blog Hop and Give Away

Every writer has a reason to write what they write. When someone asks me what I write and I tell them I write Young Adult books, I get a strange reaction. The same sort of look I get when people find out I’m a grandmother. It’s a look of astonishment, curiosity and confusion. They don’t say they think it’s silly that I write for teens, but it shows. Some even cough-chuckle under their breath. Rude.

And that is why I’ve decided to take it to the blog, to share why I write. Also, I would love to know why you write in your genre or why you read what you read. 

What I write:

I write older YA Romance, Science Fiction, Paranormal, Dystopian and I just started my first ever attempt at mild Horror (Not the gruesome kind, the GOTCHA kind *insert evil laugh*).

Why I write YA.

Without subjecting you to the ghastly details of my youth, I’ll simply say, “I’ve been through some stuff.” 

So much so, that when I was in LA last August with some other literary-type-junkies at the SCBWI conference (see here for that story) and I was opening up to Lindsay Cummings (amazing writer! Be sure to check her out) about just a few of the things I’ve had to overcome/survive – being the incredible young author with more wisdom than her years would suggest – she [Lindsay] told me I should write a book about my life.

YIKES!

I’m not sure I’m ready to be so… exposed …to the world yet.

But by the same token, that is essentially why I write what I do. The characters might have different names and personalities. The hurtles might be different, but every bit of pain, love, heartache, paranoia or “aha” awakening that I write into my characters, is part of me. Part of my past, pieces of my path that have built up my life and landed me where I am. Some are parts I keep locked up tightly, the ones I choose not to dwell on or let them hurt me anymore. And from that dark and lonesome place are born my heroines. The girls I wish I’d been or even tried to be when I was young and facing more things than any one person should. The girls who could save the day and kick some serious ass while doing it, girls who are smart, brave, tough and stand up for others too. Girls with bad attitudes but good intentions who grow with each mistake and never, never, stop trying. 

I’m rewriting my youth the way I think it should have gone. I’m writing for the girls who are living that same hell right now. I want them to know they are strong and that there is a hero in them too. So they know, someday, life will get better and they won’t always live in pain or fear. 

With every word, comes love. 

Romance is a huge part of my books too. Love is healing; even dreaming of love can lessen the inner wounds and scars we carry. It is my hope that by inspiring this feeling, that all girls – whether an adult with a hurt girl still struggling inside, or the young girl who is trying to find her voice right now – will find their strength to believe and fight. 

I sneak these bits of me onto the pages wherever I can. Because I am living proof that girls are tough, that we’re survivors and even though today we may not look like much, someday we will fight back and in a big way.

This month’s Give Away is about – Inspiration.

Holiday Blog Hop and Give Away

Here’s the Hop…

 

Click Here 

A big thanks to Reviews by Molly and Romancing the Book for hosting the Blog Hop!

 …Or stick around for the Give Away.

I’m giving away (up to, 1 set per person) 5 sets of four Twilight Journals in matching tins.

Yep, you read that right. 5 sets of these!

Winners are chosen at random.

To enter:

1. You must be a blog follower (new or old, I love you all).
2. Leave your email address.
3. Tweet, Facebook or Blog this Give Away AND post the link here.

Contest runs until Midnight December 25^th Happy Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy Kwanza all rolled into the same fraction of a second – YES! – I planned it like that.

Happy Blog Hopping and don’t forget to enter…

I reciprocate blog love.

Fighting the Funk of Failing NaNo

Happy November!

I'm pickled, mushed up, chewed up and stomped on, wasted and blown away like fall's leaves... writer-wise.

This is a new kind of writerly forbidden territory for me and I'm in need of reassurance that my muse is just on idea overload and not in a permanent state of flux.

So it all started when... that's a terrible opening, let me start again.

This is November, National Write a Novel Month, see my button over there? No, not there, over there...left, down, that's the one.

I did it, I signed up for NaNo or WriMo [or whatever loving nickname you've given the insanity of writing fifty-thousand words in a month], I set aside writing my book about aliens - that I was really enjoying writing - simply for the sake of participating in NaNo. I started out strong, blazed through the first six or seven chapters, I conversed with other NaNoers, I went to write-in's and then... I got a phone call from - we'll call her a "fan" - her words sent my brain into overload and I can't get my NaNo back. I can't even go back to my cool alien novel... now I'm writing something brand new. And the worst part is, this new project is book two for the book I'm currently querying.

I know.

Believe me, I know.

All the blogs and how-to-become-an-author books warn against writing sequels to books, unless the first book has been sold.

Little voice inside my head "But I'm unpublished, does it really matter how I spend my writing time? Is there some imaginary finish line I'm supposed to be writing towards?"

I'm not sure how to recover from this funk, I don't know how to fight what's in my head or the itch in my fingers to continue my previous character's journey [thanks crazed crit-partner for freakin' out about my manuscript, really, I'm so happy you love it] but, but... what now? Now that you've filled my head with this burning need to satisfy all the things the characters are are going to do...

I'm broken.

Book two is now the only story I can hear, because its screaming volumes louder than my aliens and deafeningly louder than my NaNo project.

For one week I've been stuck in this three way tug-of-war and I've managed to accomplish almost nothing, except...

My daughter (white shirt) says I'm too old to wear red pants. Maybe she's right.

...of course I had a Breaking Dawn Part 1 release party. Have you seen Rob Pattinson?

And so that's it. I'm too busy fighting with myself about self imposed deadlines and responsibilities to fictional characters, I've hardly written three-thousand words in seven days.   

Am I the only one with this dilemma? Is it just totally stupid to toss aside two other projects, that could be right for today's market and write a continuation of a book that's making its rounds through slush piles?

Thanks for reading my rant. As always, I love advice.

I'm really glad you stopped by.

If you're winning NaNo... WAY TO GO! You deserve a brownie... and a button.

The Writer's Maze: A Life Changing Decision

A little over two years ago I decided to quit working and start doing what I love – writing. One would think I’d start blogging from the get go, but that’s not the case. This is my first blog and I have no idea what I want to say. Is it a bad sign if a writer has nothing to say?

I read blogs – blogs about losing weight, love, opinions, politics etc. etc. BLAH BLAH BLAH and a big YAWN! I don’t want to bore you with more of the same, with a little luck and whole lot of tenacity maybe I can find something fresh to share with you.

First, let me introduce myself, my name is Candie Leigh and I’m just as lost as the rest of you in this exciting game of life. I’m the ultimate optimist and that‘s where I’m going to start, the ups and downs of a writer’s life and how I handle them. I’m going to allow you to read about my mistakes as I take this journey, but since it’s already begun here’s where I started.

Following My Dreams

I’ve tried my hand at too many things to list but here’s a sample. School bus driver, salon owner, artist, nail tech, news reporter, columnist, advertising sales and even Disneyland Cast Member. Most of those things have nothing in common with each other but they all shaped my dream and contributed to my imagination, but none of them satisfied my need to be as creative as I wanted to be.

I know you’re thinking “isn’t an artist the ultimate creator?” For me it wasn’t enough, it was only a piece of my puzzle. I could draw or paint new worlds but I could never get the details of that world in the piece. My artist’s “idea book” was filled with thoughts and concepts that just didn’t work on my proverbial canvas. I had this story, this plot, and these characters rattling around in my brain for years, maybe ever since I was a child playing in the back wood of my Pacific North West childhood home. I kept searching for books that would quench my thirst for this type of an adventure, but alas there were none.

Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of great stories out there and I’ve read and enjoyed many of them. There just wasn’t my story and my characters. When they eventually infiltrated and dominated my dreams and then my every conscious thought, I knew I had to write it down. Over the next few weeks I wrote an outline thinking that would stifle the fantasy realm dancing through my brain enough that get back to my “real” life. Not even close, it opened a flood gate. I couldn’t stop, this new world of fiction consumed every waking and sleeping thought I had. I even had to keep a note pad in my bed which I would find the next morning with huge scribbles plastered across the pages. After a few more months of this and an array of notes, files and stacks of research books, I could longer function in my “real” world. I should have been able to collect disability because the burning need to write had become completely immobilizing. And though we would suffer financially, my wonderful husband agreed I needed to write my books full-time, and that’s when my life changed forever and I can never go back. I have never been as happy as I am sitting in my pajamas, with my coffee and carmex at my side, in front of my keyboard pounding away for hours to the point of wearing the letters off my keypad, I’m on my third in two years.

I delved in with my brilliance burning through page after page and congratulated myself on how clever I was. I didn’t let anyone else read it though, until I hired a friend (who is also a publisher) to edit my manuscript. She was very kind to this first time writer and didn’t tell me to throw it in the trash, although she did say that most writers shelve their first project as a learning experience and move on. Ouch! Shelve all of this brilliance? How could I? It’s so smart and clever; the world is waiting for this story. My name will be in lights, they’ll make a movie and it will become a franchise!

In an effort to save my series of four books, I revised and I revised, and I revised and I revised.
Finally, I thought I’d see how I was doing and queried my first agent. Nothing, no response. I rewrote my query and tried three agents. It worked, I got my first requested partial. I sent it to her immediately. That was back in July, I haven’t heard a thing since and I refuse to be needy and nudge. I’ll just wait my turn. If she doesn’t like it enough to call after all this time, she’s not the agent for me. Since then I’ve queried a few more times with that query, revised my first 50 pages, written half of book two, revised my query three or four more times. Queried another half dozen agents. Rejection after rejection or worse no reply at all. Then one day I woke up and decided I’d change everything, book one and book two were split up wrong. With queries pending and pitch session looming, I jumped out of bed and stole the first four chapters of book two, spliced it to the end of book one and started the processes of scrapping 10,000 words from my newly named ToR Sa BEFORE THE REIGN manuscript.

… And this is where I am half way through another revise. I leave for the Dallas Fort Worth Writers’ Conference one week from today and I have no polished manuscript, no pitch or synopsis to reflect my changes and no clue what I’m doing. Tomorrow morning I’m reading my first five pages for my new critique group.

I’m open to advice . . . unless you want to tell me to give up, that I won’t do. I owe it to my insane imagination to finish what I started.