WINNER WINNER...

Today's post is a short one...but a good one for the WINNER of four fantabulous books: SHINE by Lauren Myracle, GIRL WONDER by Alexa Martin, MAGNOLIA LEAGUE by Katie Crouch, and IN FRONT OF GOD AND EVERBODY by KD McCrite.

Drumroll please...

And the winner is:

JS WOOD!!!!

Please email me at lastword0524(at)yahoo(dot)com to claim your prize.  Congratulations!!

This Friday Five Brought to You by the Letter W

Writing, that is.  As we all know (I hope) by now, I am a writer.  Not published, but still a writer.  Anywho, I see a lot of my fellow bloggers and twitterati lamenting things such as Writer's Block, the special hell that is Revision, and of course, the never-ending, oft-times frustrating Query-Go-Round. 

Which brings me to this week's Friday Five topic:

Five Writing-Related Sites that I Frequent

• Allison Brennan.  If you have not exposed yourself (hehehe. exposed yourself hehehe) to this amazing woman's writing yet, you must go out an get...well, any one of her books.  My faves are the Kincaid books (i.e. SPEAK NO EVIL, SEE NO EVIL, FEAR NO EVIL, LOVE ME TO DEATH and the soon-to-be-released KISS ME KILL ME)  Really, I love all her books.  They're chock full of suspense, killing sprees and the ensuing manhunt involved, and of course, a heaping side of romance.  Plus, Allison is big into giving all sorts of advice on the writing and querying process.  It doesn't matter what genre you write in, her words of wisdom shall help you through it.  I know it has for me.
• Nathan Bransford.  I know. I know.  He's no-longer super agent to the masses, but he still blogs about all the great stuff we've come to expect from him, including contests where the winning peep gets query/manuscript critiques from other uber-agents, query advice, page critiques, and his weekly 'This Week In Publishing' posts.  If you don't know him, well, you must be living under a rock. I'm just saying.
• Confessions from Suite 500.  This site is maintained primarily by Suzie Townsend, Meredith Barnes, and Joanna Volpe.  Each visit is a new and exciting experience filled with book reviews, agenty advice, cute dog pics, contests, and news about much-anticipated upcoming releases.  DIVERGENT or INVINCIBLE SUMMER anyone?  Yeah, I know.  I can't wait for either of them, myself.  Hint. Hint...if anyone has an ARC, I'd love to review it.  If not...*shrugs* I'll just have to wait like everyone else. *sigh*
• Crazy Writer Girl.  I love Alyson.  A new intern for Pande Literary, she is pure AWESOMESAUCE.  She's always offering little tidbits of advice regarding querying as well as putting up frequently posts that help take the mystery out of the whole "What do Agents want?" question we writers keep beating ourselves up with.  Check her out, people!
• Query Shark.  Need some query help? Brave enough to dive into the deep dark depths of this sharkly creature's preferred swimming ground?  Then, hop on over and take a swim.  If you're a little nervous about jumping in the deep end, just throw on some water wings, close your eyes, take a deep breath, and leap.  You'll be glad you did.

Okay, minions.  Before you all high-tail it over to any of these fantabulous sites, scroll down for the WINNER of last week's Friday Five contest.

wait for it....

wait for it...

ANGELICA R. JACKSON!!!!!

Angelica, email me at lastword0524(at)yahoo(dot)com to claim your prize. 

For all those of you who entered but didn't win, don't be sad.  I will have more contests coming up.  Those of you who didn't enter and didn't win, well, you have to enter.  Duh. 

That's it for me this week, folks.  Karla/Karlie/LastWord0524 over and out.

In Which I Lack Inspiration...

So, I was sitting at my computer last night, drawing a complete blank.  What to write about for this week's Friday Five?  At first, I thought maybe I'd write about my favorite literary characters.  Then, the idea that I should wax poetic about the best LIs (love interests for those of you that are not fluent in writer speak).  Then, I got all excited when I got the idea to tell you all the five things I loved most about THE HOST (the prize that would be awarded today to some luck dog!)  But, then I stopped myself from doing that because, well, I'll be raving about this super awesome book on the third Thursday in December.

So, long story short, I had nothing.

Confused, and a little sad because well, I'm being a lazy blogger, I opened up my iTunes to get some mojo going to write a few words to my WiP...and that got me to thinking...and the light went off in my head.  Ding, ding, ding, ding.  We have a winner.  So for this Friday Five, I am going to regale you all with:

Five Lines that Inspired My Current WiP:

ALWAYS AND FOREVER

"Here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide"  from I Carry Your Heart With Me by ee Cummings  Yes, friends, if you read my Teaser Tuesday, this is the poem that helped to inspire Mia and Kal's tragic love story. 

"I don't have a pony in this race"  words from my cousins Heather and Casey who inspired a pivotal scene in which Mia...well, I'm not going to give out spoilers here :)

Okay....now, the last three of this week's Friday Five come from the same song.  "Savior" by my new favorite band RISE AGAINST.  Buy their CD Appeal to Reason.  It's AMAZING!

"There is no reconciliation that will put me in my place"

"And there is no time like the present to drink these draining seconds"

"Like memories of dying days that deafen us like hurricanes"

Okay, now that you've enjoyed some great tunes...here is the moment you've all been waiting for...the winner of this week's FRIDAY FIVE and recipient of one of my all-time favorite books THE HOST by Stephenie Meyer is

Linda Grimes!!!

Congrats, Linda.  Email me at lastword0524(at)yahoo(dot)com with your shipping info and I will get it out to you.  FYI: Now that you have won this, I expect you to read and LOVE this book as much as I do.  If not, I will seriously have to reconsider our blogger/follower relationship.  LOL just kidding...well, not really...eh...okay.  You can still by my minion even if you don't like, but do me a favor and tell everyone how great it is ;)

Friday Five: More Than Words...

A few Fridays ago, I waxed poetic about my favorite movie lines. Before that, I talked about the YA books that inspire me.  So, it seems only fair that I give this Friday over to another medium that inspires me.  Yep, friends.  You guessed it.  MUSIC.

Now, I'm not one of those girls that posts play lists or talks about how a song just spoke to me, but anyone of you can ask my beta-buddy/email penpal/computer bestie Liz and she will rant about how I JUST WON'T STOP sending her playlists for my novels. AND pester her to see if she's listened to them. 

Yes, I am that girl.  What can I say?  Music moves me.  It inspires me...and so, for this Friday Five, I will give you a list of five of my novels, a short blurb on what they're about, and the song that started the gears in my somewhat deluded mind turning.  Aren't you all just so excited?  Well, if you're only here to find out the winner of my Dream Weaver contest, I suppose you can just scroll down to where the winner is announced, but where is the fun in that?!?!

Five of My Novels and the Songs That Inspired Them

ALWAYS AND FOREVER: (current WiP) There is no worse word to hear than cancer...well, except maybe inoperable and terminal.  Unfortunately for Mia Gordon, she hits the trifecta all in one afternoon. Stubbornly insistent that she's not going to die, at least not of cancer, Mia sets out on a path of self-destruction that soon spirals well beyond her control, ruining friendships and burning bridges that she needs if she's ever going to come to terms with her life...and her death.   Soundtrack: "Savior" by Rise Against

BROKEN: (complete; currently contemplating a complete re-write) After years of addiction, Skelly is finally getting clean, but with sobriety comes the painful remembrances of a past best left dead and buried, one that she must face if she ever hopes to cleanse her soul completely.  Soundtrack: "Fine Again" by Seether

A SLIVER OF HOPE: (complete; currently riding the Query Train) Twin sisters, Hannah and Hope Morton share a unique bond, one that can't be broken by miles, time, or even death. When Hope takes her own life, Hannah loses not only a sibling, but the other half of her soul...a soul that is now shattered into a million tiny pieces.  Slivers that Hannah isn't sure she can pick up all by herself or even if she wants to.  Soundtrack: "Only God Knows Why" by Kid Rock

FIRST INSTINCT: (complete; trunked) Plagued by visions of brutality and death, Charlie Pryce finds herself caught in the middle of a murderous game of cat and mouse in which she is the killer’s ultimate target. Soundtrack:  "What A Day" by Nonpoint

THE UNKNOWN: (complete; trunked) Finding out you’re magical is difficult, but for Lily Blackmoor, the most powerful magical being in creation, the unbelievable part is discovering that the boy she loves is actually an angel sent to destroy her.  Soundtrack: "Home" by Breaking Benjamin


 

Now, the moment you've all been waiting for.  The winner of the Friday Five Dream Weaver Contest is...

(drum roll, please)

 

Krista Ashe!!!

 
Krista, please email your shipping info to me at lastword0524(at)yahoo(dot)com and I will get your prize out to you.  And to all my other fantastic followers, please don't be too disappointed.  I see other contests on the horizon :)

Friday Five: Words to Live By...

I seem to do my best writing while not writing at all. Right about now, you're probably scratching your head and thinking that I've lost my last marble. Well, guess what? That disappeared eons ago. Now, what I meant was that the best words for that all important conversation, the ones that will live on(I hope) in the reader's mind long after the last page was read...those ones. I have to admit that many of my best lines have come from snippets of conversations that I've overhead or ones that I myself have had.


Example: I was talking to my cousin the other day and she was telling me about the happenings back home when she said, "I don't have a pony in this race." I have to admit that it made me laugh right out loud when she said it, and while we were talking, those words kept reverberating in my mind and I knew KNEW that this was something my MC would say. I also knew exactly which scene those words should appear in. I told my cousin so, and she promptly told me how much of my future royalties she'd expect. Got to love family :)


So, that leads me to this week's Friday Five:

Five Favorite Movie Lines

(what?! You thought I could only talk about books? Well, I guess you were wrong)

"You can't handle the truth!" GAH!!! BEST. LINE. EVER. (in my opinion anyway) Don't tell me you don't jump a little when old Jack gets in Tom Cruise's face and starts yelling at him about living in a world that needs walls and who's going to sit on those walls, huh?

"And then?" Ahahaha! One of the stupidest movies ever, but you just can't help but laugh until your sides hurt. By far my favorite scene in the movie, but there were some other priceless spots, too. Tattoos anyone?



"It's like one of those James Bond films?" Honestly, I don't know why this line gets me, but every time I watch Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, I tee-hee a little at it. Maybe it's the way they say it.




"You talkin to me?" Enough said.







"And, like that, he's gone."

And, now, for what you've all been waiting for: (My apologies for not doing something terribly creative to pick the winner. I just wrote out all your names, popped them in a jar, and picked out a scrap...you know...old school) :)

The WINNER of my first ever contest!

(drum roll please)

Abby Mumford

Abby, please email me at lastword0524(at)yahoo(dot)com with your book selection and shipping info.

And, stay tuned next week for my second Friday Five giveaway!