How do I look?

Whaddaya guys think of the new blog look?!

I did love my old template but I thought it was time for a change. I love the color in this one, but I fear it might be a tad too colorful.

So what do you think? Better? Worse? Easier to read?

Have I gone mad with color?

ETA: Just talked to my husband and he said, "The colors are too distracting." Blargh! I shall keep looking for another template...

ETA2: Hmph, can't find anything else I really like at the moment. Problem is, I'm super picky about these things. Alas!

St. Lucia!

Hellooooooo everybody!

Justin and I got back early yesterday morning--and I mean early. 3:30AM in fact! Our flight from St. Lucia to Atlanta went without a hitch but our flight from Atlanta to DC was delayed until 1:30AM. Suffice to say, I was tired and grumpy.

But St. Lucia was a blast! To recap:

10 fun days at the Coconut Bay Resort & Spa
20+ hours swimming and basking in the sun
4.5 books I read on the beach
54 meals consumed between the two of us
3 meals that made me sick (I have a weak stomach, I'm afraid)
2 new fruits that I had never eaten before: tamarind and breadfruit
1 cheeseburger consumed that cost a whopping $25
6 times we went scuba diving
100s of fish, sea anemones, lobsters, and eels we spotted
0 times I died while scuba diving (Wahoo!)
1 visit to St. Lucia's drive-in volcano
5 hummingbirds spotted at our resort
1.5 cricket matches we watched on TV (Still don't understand this game.)

Here are some pictures of our adventures:

Justin and me with the Pitons in the background (the two tallest peaks)

The lovely beach at our hotel

Chillin' with our driver, Big Red Yes, that's really his name.

Rainbow!

I read a lot while I was there. Ah, perfect!

It was a fantastic vacation and I'd highly recommend St. Lucia to anyone who's thinking about visiting there!

Friday Five

Wahoo! It's F-R-I-D-A-Y! Do you guys have any fun plans this weekend?

Here's a quick list—I love lists!—of what's going on in my life right now:

Number One

Oh my goodness! I am going on sub next week!

Eeeek! Major freak out!

Agent Jim finished my revised manuscript and he believes my little book is ready for submission! I'm super excited about this. And super nervous too. Like, super duper nervous. What if the editors scoff at my nerdy sci-fi novel? Ahhh!

Number Two

Justin and I are heading on our belated honeymoon tomorrow! Who cares if we've already been married for 3.5 years? St. Lucia here we come!

As for scuba diving, I'm still a little nervous... I can't wait to see the cool fish and turtles—I adore turtles!—but I'm scared that I'll hold my breath during an ascent, which will cause my lungs to explode. Okay, they won't really explode but there's a small chance that I could die. *Nervous laugh* But scuba diving is safe! Perfectly safe! Right? Right?!

Number Three

Holy cow, did anyone watch Project Runway last night? How funny was Tim Gunn?!

"Jackie O would not have camel toe."

Hahahaha. Both Justin and I burst out laughing, and I even had tears streaming down my cheeks.

Maybe I'm just immature because that word always makes me giggle...

Number Four

My ten-year high school reunion is coming up in a couple months. Man, I'm feeling OLD.

Number Five

I'm thinking about changing the look of my blog. I've had this template for over two years now and, while I really do love its aesthetic, I worry that a black background makes for harder reading. Hmm...what do y'all think? Is a white background much easier to read than a black one?

Hope you guys have a fabulous weekend! I probably won't be updating my blog very frequently until I get back from my trip on September 27th. See you guys then!

Casting "The Hunger Games"

I'll admit it, I'm pretty nervous about who's going to get cast in the upcoming Hunger Games movie. After all, I adore this trilogy—Suzanne Collins' is a bloody genius!—and I'd hate to see the film ruined by bad casting. *cough...Miley Cyrus...cough*

Recently, EW.com conducted an online poll to see how fans would cast the movie if they had the chance. Much to my surprise, I think the fans have done a great job! (Note: this isn't the real casting—the poll was just for fun.)

KATNISS

Can I just say, "Um, yesssss!" I think actress Kaya Scodelario definitely looks a helluva lot like Katniss. The dark hair and eyes. The pale skin. The pretty face that can be dirtied up for the arena. Looks-wise, she's almost perfect for the role. (Although she might be a little too pretty.)

I also like how Scodelario is a relative unknown in the States. She has gained fame for a British TV series called "Skins," but she's not a household name by far. That's a definite pro in my book because I don't want someone super famous playing Katniss. *cough...Miley Cyrus...cough*

PEETA

Hmm, this is the only casting call that I was hesitant about. Actor Hunter Parrish (Weeds) might be too much of a pretty boy. I mean, he looks like he's posing for a J.Crew catalogue in this picture! When I envision Peeta in my mind, I see him as cute and sweet but not really a dreamboat sort of guy. What do you guys think?

GALE

Ohhhh, I like! I think Gaspard Ulliel (Hannibal Rising) would make an arresting Gale. He even looks a bit like Kaya Scodelario, which is a good thing because Katniss mentions in the Hunger Games that some people mistake her and Gale as relatives. (Yeah, I can't believe I remembered that....)

HAYMITCH

Ah, Hugh Laurie is a PERFECT actor to play Haymitch! That scruff. Those penetrating eyes. Put a bottle of whiskey in his hands and hire him right now!

(Alternately, a lot of fans chose Robert Downey Jr. for this role. I think Downey would be a great Haymitch too. Decisions, decisions!)

So...what do you guys think? Do you think this poll was dead-on or dead wrong? Can't wait to read your responses! Because, let's face it, I'm obsessed with these books!

Nightmares in Revisionland

The good news... I finished tackling the big-picture edits for my novel!

The bad news... Line edits!

Eeeeek!

So last Monday, I printed out my behemoth of a book (a whopping 159 pages!) to begin the long process of line-editing. Here is my novel in all of its printed glory:

As you might have noticed, I printed the book in single-space. This is for two reasons: 1.) to save paper (go trees!) and 2.) I HATE double-spacing. Throughout high school and college, I always wrote and edited my papers in single-space because I found it much easier to read. The only downside? I have to write my comments in a tiny, barely legible scrawl. And sometimes I can't decipher my own handwriting. Ah well!

It took me a few days, but I read through the manuscript and attacked its pages with my trusty blue pen. Poor little book! After awhile, it looked like a giant ink monster had bled all over it.

And now for the hard part... Once I finished marking up my manuscript, I had to transfer all of the changes onto the computer. Nooooooo! I hate this part the most--even more than I hate double-spacing! It's torturous. It's tedious. It's so boring. No wonder my face started to look like this:

But I made it through somehow. Because now my edits are all done! Phew! I sent off the manuscript to Jim yesterday afternoon and now I feel free, free, free!

As I await Jim's verdict, I plan on catching up on my beta-reading and trying to choose what project to tackle next. YA dystopian? MG mystery? YA contemporary that I'm afraid to write because I don't write contemporary?

Or maybe I'll just take a nap...

Hells yeah. :o)

The Jim McCarthy Fan Club

On Wednesday night, I headed down to Chinatown (<— hey, that rhymes!) to meet with two of Jim's other clients. We all happen to live in the DC area and we thought it'd be really fun to have dinner together.

The night was a blast! There was copious amounts of oven-fired pizza, and there was ample time for great discussion. Jessica, Robin, and I talked about our books, our jobs, our critique process, and Mockingjay (of course!). We also spent a few minutes—okay, more than a few minutes—praising the wonders of our agent, Jim McCarthy. All of us feel incredibly lucky to have him on our side: he's laidback, he's encouraging, he's funny, and he wants to sell our books!

We are a fortunate, fortunate bunch.

I consider myself even luckier to have signed with Jim when I read through the Blueboards each morning. It seems like, every other day, I find a new thread with a title that reads, "Should I leave my agent?" or "Help! Agent never responds to my emails!" Yipes! I've seen so many writers wring their hands over an unenthusiastic agent or an unresponsive agent who takes weeks or months to respond.

And so, I really do feel like I dodged a bullet when it came to finding representation. Mr. Jim has always been super patient with me, even when I ask silly questions about the publishing world. Plus, the man replies to my emails with Superman speed! Oftentimes I get a reply from him within the hour. Sometimes within 30 minutes or less.

So...a big hug to you Jim! One day, I hope to make you a lot of money. :o)

PS Let's have dinner again soon, Jessica and Robin!

Gah!

The stresses of finding health insurance has caused an enormous zit to sprout on my chin.

*&%$!!!

I have decided to name this pimple Gigantor II because it is so large that it deserves its own zip code. Its predecessor, Gigantor I, was christened by Justin a few years ago when a gigantic pimple erupted on my nose.

I hope Gigantor vacates my face soon...

That's all! Carry on.

Boo! Hiss! I Hate Health Insurance

One of the reasons I haven't blogged much lately?

Revisions.

Revisions.

And looking for health insurance.

Sometimes my revisions make me want to pull my hair out. (I'm ALMOST done though!) But buying health insurance makes me want to dig out my eyes with a spoon.

My problem is two-fold, you see.

First, I don't understand all of this insurance-speak. HSA Ready. OOP. Coinsurance. Huh? I get them all mixed up.

Second, I can't seem to find any plans that offer maternity coverage. NONE! Justin and I aren't planning on having kids really soon, but we'd like for me to have maternity coverage just to be safe.

But noooo. I can pay $250 a month for a nice insurance package that will completely drop me if I get preggers. I don't get it! Women have babies every day! Sometimes they have more than one baby in a day! So why can't I get maternity coverage?!

Man, I want to be a dude...

Book Cover = Art

This book cover stopped me in my tracks.

It's so pretty, isn't it?

The pretty blue sky. The pretty stars. The pretty flower (a magnolia maybe?).

I just love it.



Here's the blurb from Amazon:

Twelve-year-old Lanesha lives in a tight-knit community in New Orleans' Ninth Ward. She doesn't have a fancy house like her uptown family or lots of friends like the other kids on her street.

But what she does have is Mama Ya-Ya, her fiercely loving caretaker, wise in the ways of the world and able to predict the future. So when Mama Ya-Ya's visions show a powerful hurricane--Katrina--fast approaching, it's up to Lanesha to call upon the hope and strength Mama Ya-Ya has given her to help them both survive the storm.

Sounds pretty neat! To be honest, I usually don't gravitate toward MG/YA contemporary novels, but this is a prime example of where the cover art can really suck a reader in.

I'm gonna see if they have it at Border's!

('Cause I have a 33% off coupon! Wahoo!)