I'm an aspiring author of YA fiction who checks her email far too much, and drinks copious amounts of coffee.
By day I'm an office worker and a mom to one Super Spawn, and by night I'm having the time of my life creating stories I can't wait to share with you.
You can contact me at Holly(at)hddodson(dot)com.
For the release of my friend Susan Dennard’s book SOMETHING STRANGE & DEADLY!
Sooz posted this widget on her blog, and well, in my excitement I decided I needed to share it with you too! Because ZOMG, we’re at less than two months to go!
So, are you guys as excited as I am??? Because SQUEEEEE!!!
One thing about this whole writing gig is that it is so easily put off. Eh, I’ll write that scene later. Oh, I’ve got to do XYZ first, I can’t write that now. On and on the excuses to put off getting the words on the page go. I know I am most certainly guilty of it.
Heck, I’ve been trying to get really going on my WIP for…a solid month at least, and yet I’m just now over 10k. That let me to a what the heck moment. Most of my first drafts are pounded out in a month or less. It’s just how I work — if I can’t get them out relatively quickly then I get frustrated and they wind up in my folder called WIP Graveyard.
So, one of my fantastic writer buddies and I devised a system to hold each other accountable for our word counts since we’re both drafting. (Side note – writer friends are so, so important to have for so many reasons, as my friend Susan details in this fantastic blog post. Make sure to check it out.) Really, it’s just a spreadsheet we can both access on Google Docs that we both put our goal on, listed the dates, and every day we add our new word count — whether it has changed or not.
That way, you see, we KNOW someone else is watching our progress. AND we can shoot off emails to each other saying something like, “Get to work, you slacker, I see that word count!” (Meant only in the friendliest way, of course.)
I don’t know about for her, but for me this new system has been incredibly effective. I went from maybe 200-300 words a day to 1k a day in a snap, and that number is getting higher each day as I get into the groove. So if you’re having issues with getting your butt in the chair to make a difference in your word count goals, revision goals, whatever, maybe something like this will help! Enlist a writer buddy to hold you accountable. Or, heck, email me and I’ll make a big, huge spreadsheet and we can all hold each other accountable! lol (It’s kind-of a game to me. I love a challenge.)
Point is, where there’s a will, there’s a way. So get to work! I want to see those word counts rising! 
These three novellas (and a fourth due out in July) by Sarah J. Maas are leading up to the beginning of her debut YA novel THRONE OF GLASS, which is coming out August 7, 2012 from Bloomsbury!
I’m not going to give you the blurb for all three because that would make this the most massive blog post ever, but each cover is linked to their goodreads page so you can click through and see what each novella is all about!
The first thing I have to say about these books is how much I LOVE Celaena, the main character. She’s feisty (and not just a little bit kickass) and at the same time quite girlie…which is a lot of fun. I think the best thing about Celaena is that even though she is this awe-inspiring assassin who can take down pretty much any adversary, she is still completely relatable.
Every character in Maas’s books is a complete 3D, fully fleshed out person. Never once are you left feeling like you didn’t have a full grasp on what makes a character tick.
Also, let me just throw it out there that this lady knows how to write some action! Swords and fists are flying through all three stories as Celaena is put in some seriously tough spots.
But do you want to hear the best part? Do ya? His name is Sam. Oh. My. Gravy. Maas can WRITE some romantic tension! (The Assassin and the Underworld is FANTASTICALLY full of this. Oh so yummy. Well, they all are really, but this one is my favorite so far. Ha!)
Okay, really, I could gush all day long over these books, but the bottom line is: READ THEM. All three will keep you on the edge of your seat begging for more. Promise.
Now I just wish it were July so I could have the next one…
This post could start out a lot of ways: “As a writer” would be one. “As a mother” would be another. Or “As a woman” could be yet another option for an appropriate beginning. Actually, there are probably a thousand ways you could start this post, because it’s something we all think about, and we all struggle with forever and ever no matter what:
Insecurity.
I think writers as a whole are a notoriously insecure group of people. Perhaps it comes with the territory. Which, if that means anything, it’s that we’re not alone in the way we feel.
A couple of perfect examples of how NOT alone we are would be this post from Rachelle Gardner (a literary agent) on the 7 Bad Habits of Successful Writers, and Shannon Messenger’s video blog on Friday the Thirteeners about giving up.
But when you’re in the throes of an oh my gracious I suck and will always suck and nobody has ever sucked as much as I suck in the world of suckdom moment…well, sometimes company isn’t enough.
So this post — this whole thought process, I suppose — has been a long time coming. Over the last few weeks (or, you know, forever, but just more so in the last few weeks) I’ve been struggling with my own insecurities. That ever-constant plaguing thought: I’m not good enough.
And well, fact is, maybe I’m not. Before you go lashing me for that statement, let me finish.
What I’m talking about is this dream — this goal of publication. This continuous effort to reach out and blog and network and build a platform and write book after book…
inspiration, life, things that are hard to admit, Writing | 
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Well then, I’m back! Obviously. Had a lovely break during which I conquered strep throat and watched too much TV. ‘Twas lovely. That foggy headed feeling has finally subsided enough that I can actually write, which is fantastic. And means that things should be back to normal on my little old blog here. 
But today! Today, I need to announce the newest winner of a spot on the SOMETHING STRANGE AND DEADLY ARC Tour! Hooray!
Congratulations to Laura! I hope you enjoy the book as much as I did!
Hope you’ve all been well during my absence. Tell me, did I miss anything noteworthy?
Well my lovely blog friends, I’m in need of a little break. Nothing too crazy, just a week or two at the longest. Recharge the batteries sort of thing.
I will be back. Promise.
Mine, that is. I’ve been sort of doing nothing but planning a fantastic annual vacation for me and Super Spawn this week. So…I’ve got nothing to say really.
Other than I can’t wait until our vacay. Because GUYS. We’re flying up to Washington DC for four days! And we get to spend time with one of my BFFs, Erinn!!
I am BEYOND excited!! I’ve never been to DC, and so obviously neither has Super Spawn. And he has never flown. And AND he will have just started Kindergarten and what an awesome story to have to tell all of his new friends.
GUYS I CAN’T WAIT!!! This is going to be the BEST summer ever!! Weekend of Awesome AND an awesome vacation!! WHEE!
What about you all, any fun plans coming up? I’ve got a summer full of adventure ahead of me!
