Jamie Pope

Sisterhood Of the World Blogger’s Award

| Casey Wyatt

I am thrilled to receive the Sisterhood of the World Blogger’s Award. Thank you Meggan Connors!

Without further ado, here are my seven tips (since I’ve run out of new things to say about me).

1. Balled up newspaper works great for drying out the inside of drenched sneakers. Next time you get your sneaks soaking wet, try it. You will need to pull out the wet paper and replace it with dry, but it will get the wetness out faster than air drying and using the dryer. Credit fo this tip goes to the Boy Scouts!

2. If you want to read a well written book like 50 Shades of Gray (without actually wasting the time and money and reading the words inner goddess 82 times in one book), then I’d like to recommend Sylvia Day’s Bared to You. Steamy, thrilling and downright dirty, this is the book that should be selling a zillion copies a day.

3. When smelling scented candles, sniff the lid, not the actual candle. By doing this you will get a better idea of what the candle will smell like and how strong the scent will be when it’s lit. Yes, I have a loads of practice candle sniffing at the Yankee Candle Flagship Store (in Deerfield, MA) and at various malls. And speaking of Yankee Candle, my new favorite scent is Whoopie Pie!

4. According to my bestest buddy Lisa – food has no calories when you are standing up. Or if you are at a party. Or if it’s your birthday. Did I miss any? I’m pretty sure that is a load of crap, but it’s fun to believe while snacking. Tee hee!

5. I have never left the continent of North America. I tell my hubby that I must travel to places, like Australia, to prove to myself that other parts of the world are real. I know that they are there, I’m just hoping he will buy my excuse.  Some day. Some day soon, I will explore other places.

6. Movie theater chains make their money from the concession stand and not the actual films. This is why a bottle of water costs $4.00 and popcorn $7.00 (although our local chain give free re-fills on large size, probably because popcorn is dirt cheap to make). I only know this because I worked in a movie theater, where I met hubby.

7. When making grilled cheese, instead of buttering the bread, melt the butter in the pan. This will give it that crunchy, buttery sheen like you get when you eat grilled cheese in a restaurant. What? You never order grilled cheese . . . I told you about my lobster grilled cheese sandwich, remember?

I will now dutifully dispatch the award to:

Recipients, please tell everyone 7 things about yourself, then pass the award to 7 blogger sisters!

And I’m blogging over at the 7 Scribes today – With Rebel Yell – where I share pictures of my latest adventure. And I’m blogging with the Soul Mate authors – Step Back in Time.

Lucky Seven

| Casey Wyatt

The lovely Leia Shaw has tagged me as part of her lucky seven blog activity (and Leia – consider yourself special because I don’t show anyone my WIP until it’s completed!)

Here are the rules:

1. Go to page 77 in your current manuscript
2. Go to line 7
3. Copy down the next seven lines as they are – no cheating
4. Tag 7 other authors.

Post the lines on your own blog.

My lucky 7 are: Julia Rachel Barrett, Penny Watson, Katy Lee, Jamie Pope, Tam Linsey, Jamie Brazil, and Meggan Connors. Tag! You’re it (this is purely voluntary, by the way!) I will post your names on Facebook too!

From Mystic Storm:

“Lies are like potato chips. You can’t stop at just one.” Langston flashed in front of him, mouth downturned. “She isn’t stupid. She’s a Muse for cripes’ sake!”

“Shut it, Langston.” He circled around the desk and rifled through papers.

“I think you need to listen to me.” For once, was unspoken between them. “If you care about Kalliope, then tell her the truth. Now. Don’t wait.”

Zephyr moved in front of the mirror by the door. “Look at me!” he raised his breasts. “I’m a woman right now. She’ll think I’m crazy.”

One Lucky Evening

| Casey Wyatt

Happy Friday! Don’t forget to stop by the Scribes. My guest today is USA Today bestselling author – Terry Spear!

A few announcements:

  • The winner of the Paranormal Freebies Giveaway is: Renee Bennett. The winner of the The Romance Review’s Week 2 Q&A is crazycatlady. Congratulations you both won an e-book copy of Mystic Ink. I have e-mailed you the details.
  • Also, on March 20th, I’ll be having my first ever author chat over at The Romance Reviews. I hope you can stop by. But don’t worry, I’ll remind you again!
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This week, my fellow Scribe PJ Sharon released her third book – Savage Cinderella. I highly recommend it to all of you. I know, because this is the story that brought PJ, me and the Scribes together.

See, it happened like this.

J Monkeys, Susannah Hardy, and I were all part of a writer’s group at our local library. One June evening, PJ arrived looking for critique partners. After the meeting, Suze and I stayed behind to talk with PJ. After that we all became critique partners. PJ’s book was Savage Cinderella, mine was Ascension and Suze’s was Bonaparte Bay (click here for a short story from this wonderful universe).

PJ also enlightened us with the words RWA (Romance Writers of America). She is personally responsible for recruiting me, Suze, and J to CTRWA.  J met Jamie Pope (since they joined the same month) and PJ introduced us to Katy Lee.

Last year, J birthed the idea for a group blog and the 7 Scribes were born.  And, personally, I crossed the line between wannabe writer over to professional.

It has almost been a year since the Scribes started and two years since I met PJ, Suze, and J. I am so happy to have made such great friends and to know such wonderful writers.

So to PJ – Congratulations on your new release! I’m sure glad you decided to come to our writer’s meeting that June! I can’t imagine life without knowing you, Suze, J, Katy, and Jamie.

Spill it – tell me about your friends and the people who are traveling with you along the journey of life!

Now the Fun Begins!

| Casey Wyatt

Happy Friday everyone.  Don’t forget to visit me at the Scribes today and say “hi” to our special guest – Frankie Robertson. She’s discussing her move to indie publishing and her new, traditionally published book – Veiled Mirror.

After a few weeks of waiting, I’ve received critique for The Undead Space Initiative. The overall reception has been positive. The book isn’t perfect (nothing ever is) and I have a bunch of questions, comments and “things that may need more explaining” to sift through.

To my beta readers and critique partners – thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to read and comment on my book. The book will only be better because of you.

How should a writer deal with feedback? Gracefully is always a good place to start. Try not to stress about it or take it personally.

But, practically, you also can’t please everyone. Nor can you re-make the book is someone else’s image. Balance is necessary. Take what works for you and discard the rest. But don’t toss it completely away (more on this at the end of the post).

One of the hardest things I’ve had to learn is what should be changed or not changed based on critique. Monday’s Scribe – Jamie Pope- has done a great blog post on critique and I urge you to read it!

The two questions I always ask myself – Do I agree? Will the change make the book better?

Notice, I didn’t ask, “Do I like it?” It doesn’t matter if I like the feedback or not. It doesn’t matter whether I want to hear that I might need to change something.  If I agree, I suck it up, start evaluating, and make the changes.

Also, notice I said,  “If I agree.”

And I always try to apply the unused, technique-related feedback to my next novel. That way I can grow and improve as a writer.

Besides, I’m still the Author Goddess. And what I say goes.