This vs. That

URBAN FANTASY vs. PARANORMAL

From my experience, more recently including discussions in my writers group, urban fantasy is based primarily on a female protagonist with some type of supernatural powers (in an urban setting, of course), while paranormal fiction is made up of both male and female main characters. 

I've been told urban fantasy was born with the likes of Lara Croft-type heroines in mind: able to handle themselves, strong, intelligent, have attitude (all those things men seem to be afraid of :) )

Currently, I'm seeing some of the critiques feature males as the MC, but listed as urban fantasy. What do you think? What do you consider urban fantasy?

I'm Alive!

Wow! Things are finally slowing down. It feels great to just sit back and relax. I'm still on a writing hiatus for the month of February, but definately getting a lot of critiques done. And I just want to say THANK YOU to all of you who sent in your work to be critiqued. I'm learning so much by reading other manuscripts and it looks like I will have everyone's finished by the end of the month. Perfect, considering I have an 8-10 page essay due next week ;)

This last weekend, I was able to give a 35 minute presentation to my writers group, Las Vegas Romance Writers, and everything seemed to go well. I was so nervous! But apparently I did all right, because nobody asked questions afterward! Now, I know even MORE on Goal, Motivation and Conflict, but it's for the best. I really believe it changed my entire MS (my dead MS) and in a couple of weeks I'll be submitting it for a...ah....third round of submissions. Third time's the charm?

Eye Candy...Mmm...

Just a little eye candy while I get over this cold. Makes me feel better :)

Query Crit Contest

Offered by Operation Awesome, that is! If you haven't already, head on over there and comment on this post to enter the chance to win a critique on your query! Agents Natalie M. Fischer and Josh Getzler will be critiquing!

Not On Hiatus...Promise

It feels like it's been forever since I last posted! I'm still here, just been veeeeery busy. School, work, critiques, reading for school, writing for school...blah blah blah = life. I promise to keep in touch more in the next week than I have been, but inspiration for awesome blog posts is kind of on the back burner right now.

What have you been up to? Ever feel like there aren't enough hours in the day?

Are You in Love?

It's that time of year again - Valentines Day is around the corner!

I'm absolutely in love with my book right now. I actually wrote/finished it about a year ago, but something was missing for me and for two readers who BETAd for me a few months back. It wasn't keeping my attention and both readers said they couldn't connect to my characters. So I left it alone until a couple months ago. I've already posted a little about GMC, but for the first time ever, I'm in love with my book. My characters have purpose, they are multi-layered, they are REAL for me because of the revisions and the detail I gave them. I'm so excited to see what my current BETAs will think at the end of this month and I'm actually EXCITED to query.

 

So when it comes to our WIP, are you in love? Are you excited to sit down at your computer to bang out another 2,000 words? Do you love your characters as much as I do? Confidence is everything!

And the Winner Is...

LYNDA YOUNG!

Congrats! And thanks for following me on this amazing journey! I will contact you today to send over you prize :)

Contest is Ending January 31st!

Don't forget to enter into my Celebrating 50 Followers giveaway. It ends January 31st! Enter for your chance to win Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones, Wendy's Writer Digest Guide to Query Letters or a $20 Amazon gift card.

Enter here!

Open Range

February is the time when I send out my second novel to my final BETA readers. Yep, the MS has been torn apart, put back together and edited within an inch of it's life.

So what now?

Really my only goal this year was to get ALL BECAUSE OF YOU ready and submitted to agents. So in February, while my BETAs are reading, I am open to critiques.

Need a critique of your first chapter, your synopsis, query or your entire MS? February is the time to send it to me! I don't charge, but I am really detailed. So I hope you're willing to hate me after you receive the final read through.

How to submit to me: First, read my Services page so you understand my guarantee. Second, email me (on the Contact page) with whatever you need help with. It's that simple!

I am taking a break from writing (but not school) in the month of February - so give me about two days for your single chapters to be reviewed and week-week and a half for your entire MS.

If you submit to me between the dates of February 1 and February 28 your project WILL BE CRITIQUED, even if March comes and I have to get back to work :)

Celebrating 50 Followers!

You guys are amazing! 50 followers - that's a lot for me. I'm impressed you've all stuck around and in return, the winner of this giveaway shall be granted a gift :) Spread the word!

All you have to do is leave a comment with which item you want from these by January 31st:

The Lovely Bones by Alive Sebold

The Writer's Digest Guide to Query Letters by Wendy Burt-Thomas

OR if you're not the book type

$20 Amazon.com Gift Card

Thanks for following me on this journey! You guys ROCK!