But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8.





I think whether you are a believer or not, everyone can gain something from the story of Jesus' life and death. It is the ultimate story of sacrifice and redemption; a call for all of us to think about how we can lay down our lives for our brothers and love more unconditionally from day to day.



For Christians, this should be our biggest party of the year. This is bigger even than Christmas--this is the reason why we have our salvation. This is when we celebrate Christ's sacrifice for us. Often, I think we let ourselves get bogged down planning Easter egg hunts and dressing up fancy for Grandma, and forget to be excited. This year, let's take a moment to remember why Good Friday is so good :). Don't forget to shout "HE IS RISEN!" as soon as you wake up and scare the other members of your household who are still asleep. It's funny every time!

For others, the story of Jesus can still hold meaning this holiday weekend. Even if the stories and events in the Bible didn't actually take place, the messages can still hold power. "Love your neighbor" is helpful for people of all faiths, as is the financial advice Jesus doles out (extra handy nowadays). Plus, it's a great story. Tension galore!

I hope all of you have a wonderful time this holiday weekend, if you're getting together with family, friends, or flying solo, tucking into a large plate of deviled eggs and watching Charleton Heston movies.



May all of you be blessed this Easter, no matter how you celebrate! :)

Party on, my friends. Party on.

Mmmm... Book Smell

Today there were a couple of blog entries in the publishing world about getting over the "book smell" argument against e-books.

Kassia Krozser posted that we should all stop arguing that digital books shouldn't take off because the experience isn't the same as paper books (http://booksquare.com/enough-with-the-smell-of-books-okay/), and Nathan Bransford agreed with her on his blog, saying that car owners aren't always lamenting the fact that their subaru doesn't smell like a horse.

I agree with Kassia that the e-books and paper books are two entirely different things. However, when most people talk about e-books they are talking about whether or not they are the future of publishing, the next big step, the ultimate replacement for the books we know and love. It is exactly like deciding on whether or not you like horses or cars, and not deciding between a car or a train. The only difference I can see is that horses smell like asscrack.

Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of an e-book. But when I think of them taking over, I find myself saddened. I'm a rare book collector (yes, I'm a geek), and love not only the feel and look of paper books, but yes, the delicious musty smell. Mmmm... Old.

The smell brings up memories of my childhood when I'd tuck myself into the 2' x 2' place between my bunkbed and my bookshelf, tack a blanket up, and read for hours with my flashlight. It reminds me of waiting in the used book store until the bus showed up, stowing away in the attic and pretending I was that kid in "The Neverending Story."

I'm going to miss that smell, dangit, and I think we're allowed to say that it's not the same.

E-books are cool and probably necessary, but if they take over entirely, what will happen to the simple pleasure of smelling a good book?

What do you all think? Book smell: awesome or overrated?

Just For Fun

© United Feature Syndicate Inc


I'm busily working on home improvement projects before my awesome mother-in-law gets here for Easter weekend, so forgive me for such a short post tonight :).

To all you patiently querying authors--please enjoy this Snoopy Moment of Zen.

Happy Pre-Easter to all!

Progress update!

Hi, All,

Progress Update Time!

Recently I've been working feverishly on revising my novel, LEGACY OF THE EMPRESS to make the ending stronger. My mom and husband had some awesome things to contribute (my mother is a hard woman to please) and I've been working on the ideas I agree with, fleshing them out and making my story fuller.

Today, I got three AWESOME volunteers from the query tracker forums to be my first officially non-family member Beta Readers. I'm so excited and grateful to get their feedback, and am still working to pad out my ending, to get that "Zazz Factor" as high as I can. I'm only going to start querying again once I get this feedback, and I'm stoked about the process.

It feels amazing to have the chance to have another chance to make your work not just "ok" but "great."

As a side note, I have another work in progress: my body. My goal is to become stronger and leaner slowly but surely. I'm starting some heavy weight lifting (squats, deadlifts, assisted pull ups, bench presses, etc) and working on not eating as much crap.

If you are starting a strength training or weight loss regimen to get rid of that "writer's butt," I highly recommend www.stumptuous.com. It's literally THE BEST website ever for ladies wanting to get fit, and dispels a lot of myths and lies we've heard our whole lives.

Yes, bitches can lift heavy things. No, it won't turn you into a grotesque She-Hulk. Enough said. We can do it!

Wish me luck, and good luck to all of you on your various Works in Progress :).

New Contest On Dar Intarweb!

Superstar agent, Nathan Bransford, just posted an interesting contest on his blog. In response to the recent #Agentfail posts, he's giving US a chance to not only post our queries on his website, but to step into the shoes of an agent for a week.

You heard right--he wants us to feel the pain/thrill of strapping on the hip waders and stomple out into the slush pile. If you sent your query (real or pretends) to querycontest@gmail.com, he will choose 50 or so to put up on the website for us to sift through. Our challenge (should we choose to accept it) is to pick 5 out of the 50 to request full manuscripts from, and to send tasteful "no thanks" replies to the others.

Not only is this an opportunity for us to "get" what it's actually like on the other side of this process, but this as an amazing chance to see how we stack up in the real world against other authors. I emailed my query today hoping for some feedback from my peers.

Afraid? Maybe :). Excited? TOTALLY.

As a rebuttle to the outpouring of author-rage recently, I think this is an amazing solution. After all, who can gripe after walking a mile in another's shoes?

So, who's game?

For more details, please see Nathan's post at http://nathanbransford.blogspot.com/2009/04/announcing-be-agent-for-day-contest.html.

Let the games begin!

Agentfail vs. Queryfail--The Ultimate Smackdown!

Something both bizarre and fascinating happened this week in the agenting world. In response to the controversial twitter event #Queryfail in which dozens of agents tweeted on why they were passing on queries in real time, the wonderful agent ladies over at Bookends LCC innocently asked "what do agents do that fails you?" on their blog... and all Hell broke loose.

Check it out here: http://bookendslitagency.blogspot.com/2009/04/agentfail-right-here.html.

I honestly think they were trying to get feedback to make sure they and their agent friends were doing a good job of serving authors. What they got was a crushing wave of author-rage overflowing their comments section. I mean... whoa. Writers definitely had a lot to say and most of it wasn't pretty.

Since then, I've seen several agent websites responding in the vein of "Hey, WTF, guys?"

What do you guys think? Is it fair to rip on agents in light of #Queryfail, or is this backlash simply childish and bizarre? Are the agents right to be upset?

My own experience with the now infamous #Queryfail event was that I went in hopeful and excited, hoping to get some tips on things to avoid. What I got, though, were helpful gems in a sea of "Lulz! Prisoners query me!" While the stories were funny, I was a little sad there wasn't more helpful information. I can see why some authors felt attacked, but then again, isn't everyone allowed to blow off a little steam now and again? I don't have a problem with it, but I also didn't find what I was looking for.

What do you all think? #Queryfail Vs. #Agentfail--valuable or vindictive?

The Devil is in the Details: Writing the Perfect Ending

So, I'm hip deep in ideas on how to give my novel, LEGACY OF THE EMPRESS, that extra zazz-factor, and have been struggling with an obnoxiously elusive question: What makes an ending, well... satisfying?

I've gone over and over it, and now I want to ask you!

What do you think makes a GREAT ending? Are there any novels that literally made you squirm with joy after reading that last line? Cry? Burst into hives caused by too much goodness and best of all... zazz?

On the flip side, are there any novels that were amazing up until that very last chapter and then suddenly fizzled into a big pile of "eh"? I've been there. Two words: Hyperion Chronicles.
Don't let it happen to you, kids. Stop after the first half. Keep the memories alive.

So you tell me: what brings on the zazz?