#NILtribe Happenings!

Only 23 days to go until NIL's release!!!! AHHH!

Here's a quick update of what's happening:

ICYMI: I'm over at The Write Notes talking about the Top Five Songs Behind NIL. I'm also giving away a galley of NIL…with the vintage cover.:) Only 4 more days to enter!

The YA Valentines Winter Formal Blog Tour starts Monday! I'll be over at the lovely Nikki Wang's blog Fiction Freak--please come say hi!!!

And on Wednesday we're having a Twitter party!!! 

This Wednesday, February 12th at 6:30 PM EST, I'll be hanging out with Sara B. Larson (DEFY), Bethany Hagan (LANDRY PARK) and Jen McConnel (DAUGHTER OF CHAOS), some of the sweetest and most talented debut authors around. We'll be chatting about books, embarrassing Valentine moments, and other fun things! There will be prizes! Virtual snacks! The hashtag is #YAValsFormal . . . come hang out with us! 

Also have appearances coming up…will post about them shortly!:) 

Happy Saturday!!!

xoxo

Lynne

Music Monday & NIL scoop

Good morning blogging and book sweethearts!

Ok, it's Monday, August 5th. Whoa . . . HOW IS IT ALREADY AUGUST?! But it totally is. And it even feels like August. A back-to-school vibe is in the air, but I'm clinging to the last few weeks of summer with my boys.:)

But back to the fact that it's August 5th.

August 5, 2013. Which means . . .

NIL comes out in less than seven months! March 4, 2014 to be exact.:)

So, a few NIL links this happy August morning:

*You have one day left to win an advance copy of NIL over at Icey Books. Plus, you can check out NIL's gorgeous cover too.:)

*You can discover the tunes behind the words over at All The Write Notes. I've posted both Thad and Charleys playlists over there. Check them out, and let me know what tunes fuel your writing and your imagination! 

Oh--one last thing. You know what else August means for my family? This:

Last night Shark Week started on the Discovery Channel and we're all in.:)

So what's new with you?

Biggest Week EVAH

I take a break from this:

Copyedits...I OWN you. (Well, I'll at least finish you.:D)

to bring you epic snack-cake, music, and interview goodness. Here's what's happening this week:

NIL!!!!!!!

I'm over at One Four Kid Lit talking about NIL and sharing how NIL was conceived.:) (And did I mention I got my copyedits on Monday, had a fantastic chat with my amazing editor on Wednesday, and am shipping these goodies back by Monday? Yeah. BRING IT.:D Sleep is SO over-rated.:D)

Music love and free tunes:

Over at All The Write Notes, I shared the awesomeness of AWOLNATION and Blondfire live. As y'all may know, I'm a huge Blondfire fan. Hop over if you missed the post because you've still got time to enter the Discover Blondfire giveaway and win $10 in free iTunes.:)

#TakeMyTwinkie contest:

So yesterday I posted my Cupid's Arrow on The YA Valentines blog, where I waxed poetic about the death of the beloved Twinkie (and also shared my newfound knowledge of the Twinkie Deconstructed, which may have been an over-share). :)

Anyway! I'd ordered a Twinkie in advance of my post--and my Twinkie never came. Now I know I don't want to can't selfishly keep this snack-cake goodness to myself.  So the #TakeMyTwinkie contest was born.

Follow my #TwinkieTrack tweets on Twitter as I track my Twinkie, and when it arrives, I'll tweet #TakeMyTwinkie. Be the first to reply with the hashtag #TakeMyTwinkie and it's yours! But the best part? You'll also win a copy of one of my favorite YA releases with a MAC with hair the color of the iconic golden sponge cake.:)

Ok, the rest of my week has been insane with family stuff. Now back to copyedits.:)

Happy weekend and good luck!:)

Friday Five

I haven't blogged in what feels like FOREVER. At least not here.:)

But yesterday over at All The Write Notes I talked about pacing, and how to know when you've hit the sweet spot in your novel.:) Thanks go to the a capella group Walk Off The Earth for the inspiration!

Anyway, I realized I hadn't posted in almost a month, because I've been super busy. So here's a quick Friday Five explaining what's happening with me, and with NIL . . .

5. Craft.

Yesterday I blogged about pacing perfection. Go here if you have a minute. Or 4 minutes...:)

4. Beta-reading.

I've been blessed to read for some amazing YA writers, who are all as sweet as they are talented. You're in for a treat from Becky Wallace, Trisha Leaver, and Lindsay Currie. I've read manuscripts from all three lovelies in the past few weeks, and all were exceptional.:) Way to go girls! *fist bump*

3. Chasing boys.

Mine, in particular.:) Lacrosse, soccer, golf, tennis, and swimming all spread among the four. Lately my writing time has felt pinched, which I hope to remedy soon!

2. NIL

My big edits are done! Woot! I'm not sure of the process, but I think copy edits or line edits are next. :) I bit the bullet and took the dreaded author photo yesterday. I don't know why, but photo shoots are always so intimidating. But it's done...new pic soon! And coming soon to the blog will be a NIL playlist...pics that inspired NIL...and more.:)

1. Music.

This weekend I'm going to see AWOLNATION with my sweet husband. Blondfire and Mother Mother are opening, and I CAN'T WAIT. I listened to AWOLNATION when I was revising NIL, especially the opening scenes from Thad's POV. And I discovered Blondfire during the same time. Their song "waves" is one of my absolute faves. I'm a huge fan, and since I found them when I was still fully involved in the NIL world, I think Blondfire will always remind me of NIL. :)

Here's my favorite Blondfire song right now....

Where The Kids Are

Blondfire

So what's your weekend plans? And what have you been up to lately? :)

Monday Madness

Hi everyone! Happy President's Day!

My boys are home from school, it's cold out (well, cold for us here in Jacksonville. It's 32 degrees outside and the frost has made our grass crunchy.:D) and with clear skies, I can feel it's going to be a great day.

A quick post today, about tunes and Valentines and NIL and my morning epiphany.:)

Top five things on my mind this morning:

5. My first post over at All The Write Notes. I blogged about fresh new artist finds, featuring a British singer-songwriter Hannah Trigwell. I LOVE HER. Go check out the post. It's worth it, I promise, just to hear her voice.

4. Tomorrow is my first post over the The Valentines! I'm interviewing the awesome Anita Grace Howard, the authored of the epically cool novel, SPLINTERED. There will be goodness and giveaways, because Anita is that amazing.

3. I am freezing.

Which leads me to the revelation that...

2. I am a wimp. I should go running yet I can't bring myself to go out when it's still under 40 degrees, which is ridiculous.:)

1. NIL. I woke up thinking about it's cover. Or what it's cover might look like. I've had a million different ideas, and I can't wait to see what Henry Holt does with it, because they are AWESOME with covers.

I don't know when the cover reveal will be, but I'll let you know as soon as I do. :) In the meantime, I'm, going to start sharing my NIL playlist soon. Some songs are for Thad, and some are for Charley. And the songs, like the two characters, are very different, but hopefully equally awesome.:)

Happy day! What's on your mind today?

Friday Five Linkapalooza!

Happy Friday, y'all!

For today's Friday Five, I'm doing a quick blog-post-shout-out to my faves of the week.

5. On craft.

Killer post on how to add tension during revisions by talented (and sweet!) author Janice Hardy. This post is so awesome that I'm bookmarking it.

4. On books.

More interview goodness about YA debuts dropping in 2013 and more 2014 MG/YA book love to come! If you haven't checked out One Four Kid Lit yet, it's definitely worth a visit.

3. On music.

Who says music isn't educational?! A fun post by the cool music writer Jennifer Carney. On a related note, the All The Write Notes blog is up and running, and you still have time to enter and win a CD by The Rural Alberta Advantage. So pop over and enter; you've got time. :)

2. Just because it's hysterical and I don't want you to miss it. :)

Ok, so this post by the hilarious Tracey Neithercott had been up for a few weeks, but thanks to living in a cave full of NIL edits and tortilla chips, I didn't discover it until this week. :) And oh my land, IT'S HYSTERICAL. Tracey tells a story in YA book covers, and it's classic. YOU HAVE TO READ IT. And as a bonus, you might even discover a book to add to your TBR list. Tracey, you rock.

1. In which I leave Number One up to you.:)

Do you have a favorite post of the week? Let me know what I missed.:)

Until then, here's my favorite track of the week:

Mother Mother's Simply Simple. Enjoy! :)

Music Monday

Today I'm talking tunes. And if you haven't heard . . .

All The Write Notes is live! *cheers*

ATWN is a  blog for people who love tunes. Started by writers who love and live music, it's going to be heaps of fun. And I'm honored to be a part of it! Today is the first post. The cool Jay C. Spencer is talking about the band The Rural Alberta Advantage, a band that inspired his current WIP, and there's a giveaway!

So go check it out! You might win--or just find some cool tunes.:)

Since ATWN today is talking about bands that have influenced us--and our writing--I'll share some of my faves. It's really hard to pick just one, but Snow Patrol tops my list. The lyrics, the melodies--I love it all. And having seen them in concert (twice), they're even more amazing live.

Other huge artists for me? It tends to change, but rounding out my top 5 of bands/artists I never tire of are: Jack Johnson, Silversun Pick-ups, 30 Seconds to Mars, and The XX.

The next timeless five? David Gray, Jack's Mannequin, The Smiths, and Depeche Mode. (I know, Depeche Mode screams ancient, but I still love them. Good times.:D)

Other artists I'm loving right now? Kasabian, Natalie Walker, Sia, Lana Del Ray, The Joy Formidable, and My Chemical Romance.

And the track playing on my iPod right now: Mirrorball by Elbow. Another great tune.

What have you been listening to lately?

And curious . . . *cue informal blog poll*  . . . I can't write without music. Seriously. It's like all that silence weirds me out and stops my mind from going to that creative place. What about you? If you're a writer, do you like music, or do you need silence?

**Okay, since posting, I realized my "next top five of timeless songs" only contained four...*doh* Nice. Math was never my strong point...LOL.:) So here's a 5th: Florence +The Machine. Happy Monday & thanks for stopping by!:)

Friday Five

It's FRIDAYYYYYYYYYY!

*breathes*

Here's my week wrap-up...a fast and furious Friday Five. The top five things on my radar this week:

5. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Here's my all-time favorite MLK, Jr. quote:

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

Just--awesome.

4. Beta-reading for Lindsay Currie and Jay C. Spencer. Totally different manuscripts, each individually wonderful. And I can't wait to read Tonya Kuper's revisions on HAUTE MESS, which is a hilarious rom-com close to my heart.

3 & 2. Blogs!

Check out One Four Kid Lit, full of 2013 MG and YA debuts, and get to meet MG and YA authors debuting in 2014. So many great books ahead!

Coming next Monday...All The Write Notes, a blog for writers who love, and live, music. The first post is about The Rural Alberta Advantage, and Jay C. Spencer is giving away cool stuff. (I'd tell you but I'm sworn to secrecy. Well, not really, but it's SO COOL. You want it, trust me.)

I'm so stoked to be part of both of these blogs I can barely stand it.

1. NIL edits.

BOOM. Done. And it feels so good. I turned them in, on time, and I feel really, really good about them. I can't wait to see my cover...and to hold an ARC...and for 2014!

Soon I'll post a NIL playlist, but in the meantime, I leave you with this: Willie Moon's Yeah Yeah. I cranked this song when I finished, feeling it for me and for my manuscript. And if you haven't seen this video, then you're in for a treat. It rocks.

Enjoy.:)