Word Games for Unwinding Writers

I love word games. They're usually strategy-oriented and make you think, but not in a way that's overly taxing. At the end of my work day, when I'm relaxing with Netflix, I like to pull up word games on my phone and unwind.

So on a slightly different but still related topic here on Writability, I thought I'd share my favorite free word games with everyone. Because there's no such thing as too many word games.

1. Words With Friends
   
   This is an obvious one that most of you probably have, or have had at some point or another. It's a phone classic based off Scrabble (AKA: the best word game of all time) and remains a favorite to get my gears turning.






2. Capitals
   
   This is a tough one I'm still working out the best strategy for, but it is addictive. The basic idea is to capture as many hexagon tiles as possible by building words with the letters in the tiles. By using a letter, you "capture" that tile and add it to your kingdom—and you win by capturing your opponent's capital and all of their tiles. It's a hard game but I really enjoy the strategic combination it requires to gain an upper hand.
   
   



3. Crossword Quiz
   
   I recently picked this one up and I love it for many reasons. Firstly, it's completely free and you can unlock all of the levels just by playing. And second, it takes the crossword classic and puts it in a cool interface, but adds in a combination of emoji and picture clues. I like it a lot—it's low-key, and has a new daily quiz every day so you'll probably never run out of levels to play.





4. Word Cookies
   
   This is my most recent addition to my word game collection, and it's a fun one too. Word cookies gives you a selection of letters and you have to come up with all the words the selection can make. The first several levels are so easy they're a bit bland, but it gets more challenging and it's another fun, relaxing game that you can play and go as you please. 

So those are my favorite free word games, but I'd love to add to my collection, so lets hear it. What are your favorite free mobile word games?

Twitter-sized bite:

Looking for some free fun word games to help you unwind during your free time? @Ava_Jae shares her favorites. (Click to tweet)

Winners, Giveaway & Fun Announcement!

Photo credit: r.nial.bradshaw on Flickr!

Hey, guys! So this has been quite the week. Beyond the Red is officially out in the wild in the US (will be in the UK on the 17th!), the Virtual Launch Party was amazing (if you missed it, the lovely Heidi Heilig storified it), I had a great celebratory dinner with a family member, and it snowed which was really nice.

I also have the winners for the pre-order giveaway! And they are...

• Rebecca Kelsey Sampson
• Michelle Yolanda Hellebrand
• Gwen Cole
• Erin Deets Beaty
• Kelly DeVos
• Magdalyn Ann
• Ellie Eghigian
• lovelypatchworknerd
• Juniper Nichols
• Anna Leighton
• Jessica Gunn
• Francesca Bartolomey
• Layne
• Tilly Latimer

Congratulations, guys! I'll be e-mailing you all shortly with directions for claiming your prize. Yay! And to the rest of you, thank you so much for pre-ordering and entering! I appreciate it more than you can know. <3

There are, however, still more fun announcements! For example, for those of you who don't have a copy of Beyond the Red yet, there's still a chance to win one! Like so!

RT this tweet by 3/29 to enter to win a final copy of BEYOND THE RED + signed swag! US only. #BTRLaunch pic.twitter.com/nyYTr1R8m2

— Ava Jae (@Ava_Jae) March 2, 2016

And! There from now until the end of the month, there is a Beyond the Red fan art contest! The details of which look like

So those are all the announcements! A few short weeks from now I'll be touring in Maryland and Virginia, and I hope I'll see some of you guys there!

Having to Prioritize

Photo credit: Wiertz Sébastien on Flickr

So, as expected, I guess, I’ve been really busy lately. Between school, revisions, more revisions, social media and life stuff, I’ve spent pretty much every day including the weekends from 5:30ish AM to at least 5PM doing something productive. And even then, at the end of the day, I still have plenty I didn’t get to.

So naturally, I’ve had to prioritize. And the first ball I tend to drop when I get this kind of crazy-busy is answering comments and e-mails.

I want to say that I still do read every comment—whether blog, vlog or otherwise—and e-mail that I get, but lately the only time I’ve had to squeeze in answering them tends to come on the weekends. Or the super early mornings. Which means I am so very behind and my inbox is pretty much bursting with comments and lovely e-mails and I don’t want you guys to stop! I love that stuff, but I do want to say that I know I’ve been slow answering and, well, I’m probably going to continue to be slow answering until things calm down a bit.

Because right now, the only way for me to get everything I need to done means prioritizing. And school, writing and my mental and emotional health has to come before answering non-urgent e-mails and blog/vlog comments. And I mean, I figure you guys would rather I met my editor and agent deadlines whilst not falling behind in school than answer blog comments speedy-quick anyway.

So I guess what I’m saying is please continue commenting even though it takes me a bit to answer—I do read them as they come in and you guys are so, so awesome. Thank you for continuing to contribute to the conversation here on Writability, and over on bookishpixie, and everywhere else. And please continue to feel free to use my contact page to e-mail me, because I do read them right away and though I can’t answer them quickly, they are appreciated.

Just know that silence on my part or being one/two/three weeks late answering that comment/e-mail/etc. isn’t because I don’t care or because I’m ignoring what you’re sending me. But sometimes things get pushed down on the priority list and in order for me to hopefully get books out to you guys, and hopefully graduate, and hopefully not completely crash mid-semester, my once-speedy response time is now not-so-speedy.

Thank you, to all of you, for making the community here and elsewhere so awesome. You guys have blown me away with your support and continuously insightful comments and I look forward to so much more.

Onward and upward. :)

Don’t have a question for you guys today, just virtual hugs and lots of gratitude. You all rock. <3

Vlog: The Book Rules Tag

I've been tagged in The Book Rules Tag by Rebecca Kelsey Sampson! Which was perfect timing because I was sick last week while filming, so it made for a fun and non-taxing vlog. Yay!

Hope you guys enjoy. If you'd like to participate, please do so and link in the comments! :)

P.S.: I'm feeling better. Woot!

RELATED LINKS: 

• Rebecca Kelsey Sampson's The Book Rules Tag (vlog) 
• #WriterLife Tag, in which I didn't know where to look at the camera.

How would you answer some of the questions in the tag? 

Twitter-sized bite: 

.@Ava_Jae vlogs about her reading habits, book organization techniques and more in The Book Rules tag. (Click to tweet)

Discussion: What’s Your Favorite Type of Swag?

Photo credit: darknesschildsin on Flickr

So somehow, 2015 is halfway over, which means things are starting to gear up for 2016 debuts. Which is crazy, and exciting, and yay.

One discussion point I frequently see on Twitter is what everyone’s favorite swag is, which I think is an excellent question, partially because I hadn’t thought much about it before I saw people asking and partially because…well it’ll be good to know when I start ordering swag. So. :D

Personally, I like bookmarks because they’re useful and pretty, but I also like pins, those rubber bracelet things (I still have one that says “Nerd is the New Black” for Megan Erickson’s Make It Count), and though I’ve yet to get a book poster, I would love me some book posters.

I’ve also seen people mention tote bags (cool!), and I know pens exist but I never found those all that interesting probably because I don’t often use pens (and on Twitter at least, I haven’t seen them mentioned much). I’ve also seen super creative suggestions though, like necklaces and book-specific swag like Down With the Shine’s jars (which makes sense if you look at the super-awesome cover) or Mockingjay pins for The Hunger Games.

I’ve seen super-cool t-shirts, fun postcards, nail polish, awesome temporary tattoos, cute magnets, and I’ve heard people mention bookplates.

So all in all, the swag choices are close to limitless. But for those of you who like swag, I’m curious: what’s your favorite type of swag?

Twitter-sized bite:

Do you like book swag? What's your favorite type? Join the discussion on @Ava_Jae's blog. (Click to tweet)

Queer YA Scrabble Intro Post!

Boy, do I have an exciting weekend planned for you guys! Those of you who follow me on Twitter my have already heard that I’m hosting one of the stops for Queer YA Scrabble along with Gay YA, Afterwritten, YA Interrobang, Queer YA and LGBT YA Reviews! And those who didn’t know…surprise! I think you guys will like this.

So what is Queer YA Scrabble? you ask. It’s an event running from June 6th-8th to support 
Stonewall-UK and increase awareness of QUILTBAG YA books. Starting tomorrow, anyone interested in participating will hunt for letters hidden in super sneaky blog posts featuring the books and then you guys will solve an anagram to compete for a chance to win a box stuffed full of really awesome QUILTBAG YA books. Yay!

After the giveaway, there will be an auction for another set of the book-boxes along with critiques and what not donated by super awesome agents and editors. 100% of the proceeds will be donated to Stonewall.

So here on Writability, I’ll have a special post up on June 7th with mini-interviews from Becky Albertalli (Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda), Suki Fleet (This is Not a Love Story), Abbie Rushton (Unspeakable), Nina Rossing (Supermassive), Ellen Wittlinger (Parrotfish) and Kirstin Cronn-Mills (Beautiful Music for Ugly Children) with the hidden anagram letters.

I’m really excited to be a part of this, and I hope you guys love it! See you all on the 7th. :)

UPDATE: Team Unicorn's anagram is hard, so I've decided to post early! Come back at noon TODAY (June 6th) to start the letter hunt! :)

Twitter-sized bite: 

Writability is a stop in the Queer YA Scrabble giveaway! Will you be joining in the fun? (Click to tweet)

My Favorite (Upcoming) Book Covers

As a bookish person who also loves artsy things, it’s probably no surprise that I love cover reveals. Book covers, to me, are totally fascinating, and lately the book covers just seem to be getting better and better.

I’ve been drooling on so many covers lately, that I wanted to share them with you guys. Specifically, covers for books that haven’t been released yet because there are so many gorgeous ones, I can’t even. 

So without further ado, here we go. 

• Focus On Me by Megan Erickson:





Photo credit: Goodreads

Why: The (literally) steamy, out of focus cover, the way the title itself is slightly out of focus, the rich colors, oh and those pecs and abs...




Walk on Earth a Stranger by Rae Carson:




Photo credit: Goodreads

Why: The gorgeous colors, beautiful typography, shiny gold, stunning sunrise backdrop contrasting on the deep green foreground...what's not to love?



Cut Both Ways by Carrie Mesrobian:



Photo credit: Goodreads
Why: The simple, but eye-catching design, the hand-painted typography, the clothes around the bed that tells me I'm probably going to like this book... ;)


Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo:



Photo credit: Goodreads
Why: This illustrated cover fits beautifully with the previous Grisha books, but is definitely it's own thing. I love the cool tones, the swirly typography, and the fact that the elongated feathers makes six towers is pretty awesome and probably important.



A Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis:



Photo credit: Goodreads
Why: The eerie moodiness, the movement in the cover model (and her hair!), the creepy hand grabbing her foot at the bottom of the cover, and the delicate and refined typography all work together to make this one stunning cover.



Dreamstrider by Lindsay Smith:



Photo credit: Goodreads
Why: This cover is just so unique—I love the contrast of all the colors with the negative white space, the layers with tons of textures are gorgeous, and the more I look at it, the more I see.


Dreamland by Robert L. Anderson:



Photo credit: Goodreads
Why: The atmospheric, Inception-like imagery with the city in the sky, the clouds with the sun poking through and creating the title, the darkness creeping in around the edges and the creepy shack and dirt road setting down below makes this one of my favorite covers this year.



Hello, I Love You by Katie M. Stout:



Photo credit: Goodreads
Why: Hello, you're adorable. I mean, c'mon, how cute is this? I love the doodles, the light colors and the fact that they actually used a PoC model for a PoC character (as they always should, but unfortunately don't always) is a nice added bonus.



More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera:



Photo credit: Goodreads
Why: This cover is so perfectly creepy and awesome. I love the texture of the cracked, flaking smiley face and the bold overlaid text and the fact that it's a closeup showing only have a smile just makes it even creepier to me.



We Are the Ants by Shaun Hutchinson



Photo credit: Goodreads
Why: This is a simple, but lovely design that I really appreciate. I love how the title is centered down the middle and brings your eye back down to the tree at the bottom, which leads you back up into the cover again, and then the swirl of the stars and yeah. It's a deceptively clever design and I like it. 

Runner-ups: Made You Up by Francesca Zappia, It’s a Wonderful Death by Sarah J. Schmitt, The Tenderness of Thieves by Donna Freitas, Even When You Lie to Me by Jessica Alcott, and All the Rage by Courtney Summers. 

What are some of your favorite upcoming book covers?

Twitter-sized bite: 

Writer @Ava_Jae shares her top ten favorite upcoming book covers. What would you add to the list? (Click to tweet) 

Classes I Never Thought Would Apply to My Writing Career (But Do)

Photo credit: CollegeDegrees360

With finals two weeks away and projects and presentations and essays piling up like Mount Kilimanjaro in the back of my mind, I’ve been thinking, kind of understandably, about school.

Specifically, about those silly classes I thought totally didn’t apply to me and my writerly career goals until, um, they did.

So for fun, I thought I’d share with you some of those classes I totally thought were irrelevant and was totally wrong.

• Those two HTML classes. I took an HTML class my senior year of high school just to fill an elective space, and my third year of college. By the latter class, I kind of knew it’d be good to pay attention, but in high school, I didn’t think learning html would matter to me at all.
  
  And boy, was I wrong.
  
  Between the blog here and tumblr, I open up HTML to fix formatting issues that are rage-inducing to try to fix in the WYSIWYG editor and save myself a ton of time. I know how to read it relatively well, and while I’m definitely not an expert, the little bit I do know has been completely invaluable through many years of blogging. The more you know. 


• Those two dreaded public speaking classes. I took a public speaking class my senior year of high school and over the summer after my second year of college. I hated them both with a burning passion and I can’t begin to tell you how relieved I was when I walked out of there and thought thank god I’ll never have to do that again.
  
  Except, you know, I’ll have to do that plenty because authors it turns out don’t just write books. (And my first real life application will be over the summer at a conference in Chicago for those who are interested.) 


• Every math class ever. This will never apply to my life, groaned high school Ava in every math class. And to be fair, most of that stuff really never will. But I mean, I guess math is helpful sometimes, like with budgeting writer stuff and figuring out statistics for a post and fine math, you win. 


• All those video editing classes. Fun fact: before I switched my major to English, I went to school for three years for video-related fields. I have an Associates in Digital Media/Film, and I went to a fancy art school where I learned about Visual Effects. It was pretty cool.
  
  When I switched majors, though, I never really thought the film stuff I’d learned would come into play again. And then I started vlogging and I realized just how useful it was to know how to set up a camera and scene and edit stuff. Who knew?


• Every design/color theory/art class ever. Unsurprisingly, another thing I did at Fancy Art School was take art classes! And I totally loved them and thought they were a blast, but again, I didn't really think much about how those classes would apply to my writing career.
  
  But they totally do apply! Because I've designed my own business cards, and this blog, and I'll probably be designing future promo materials and it's all very helpful to have those basics I learned in my head. 

What non-writing skills have you unexpectedly used in your writing career?

Twitter-sized bite:

What non-writing skills have you unexpectedly used in your writing career? Join the discussion on @Ava_Jae's blog. (Click to tweet)

What I’ve Learned From My Social Media Presence

Photo credit: magicatwork on Flickr

As many of you know, I do social media a lot. Every day, in fact. And I do quite a bit of it and have been doing so for several years now.

Over time, I’ve learned some things. And so I thought I’d share these lessons with you.

1. YouTube isn’t as scary as I thought. When I posted my very first vlog, I was terrified. I’d been camera-shy for years—and in fact, when I first started social media-ing, I couldn’t post a picture of myself even on my super-protected personal FB page because it freaked me out so much. It took a long time to get a handle on my anxiety, then finally build up to being okay with sharing pictures online, and then finally posting that vlog.
   
   And now? Now I love vlogging. It’s been so fun, and I’ve gotten comfortable in front of the camera (as long as I’m in an isolated room with no one watching, that is), and I’ve gotten a lot of really awesome feedback. There have been a few isolated bleh comments here and there, but the delete button is a very nice thing. And I haven’t had to use it often. So yay. 


2. There are way more books out there than I can ever hope to read. Goodreads and Twitter are like the best worst thing to ever happen to my TBR list. I currently have 337 books on my TBR shelf and the more I read, the more the list grows. It’s a good problem to have, though, and I’m certainly not complaining. (Though if Hermione could lend me her time-turner, I might be able to make a dent in that list…)


3. People are generally nice. By and large, I’ve found, people are nice. There are definitely some jerks, creeps, and gross people out there, but the vast majority of people I’ve interacted with online have been genuinely wonderful. And interacting with those lovely people makes putting up with the occasional blah person more than worth it. 


4. Being yourself is the best policy. While I mostly talk about writing and books online, I’ve been known randomly nerd out about X-Men, or whatever TV show I’m currently hooked on, or some random movie I just saw and loved. I’ll squee about Korrasami and jump up and down about the Deadpool movie and drool over Edward Kenway and Ezio Auditore then go back to talking about writing. And you know? It’s really fun seeing just how many people following me are also secret nerds who I share fandoms with.
   
   The way I see it, it’s too exhausting to try to be someone you’re not online. And why bother, when plenty of people will love you for you better? 


5. It can be time consuming and overwhelming. I am all over the internet. Just about every major social media site (except Google +) I use at least semi-regularly. And unsurprisingly, it takes up a hell of a lot of time. Sometimes, when I’m overwhelmed with work, I have to take a step back and ignore the smaller social media sites and cut down on the amount of time I spend on even my favorite sites. Sometimes I only log onto Twitter and make sure my blog is updated and leave it at that. Eventually, I will probably need to take a break entirely, but the point is every site is a commitment, and those commitments can add up quickly. I really do enjoy the stuff I do online, but sometimes I have to remind myself that taking care of me and making sure I work on deadline material is more important. 

What have you learned from being online? 

Twitter-sized bite: 

.@Ava_Jae shares five lessons she's learned from being online. What would you add to the list? (Click to tweet)

Fixing the First Page Giveaway Winner #7!

Photo credit: ~Morgin~ on Flickr

Quick off-schedule Saturday post to announce the winner of the seventh fixing the first page feature giveaway! Are you ready?

The winner is…

MEGHAN (@CUIGEMUMHAN)

Yay! Congratulations, Meghan! Expect to see an e-mail from me very shortly. 

Thanks to all who entered! There will be another next month, so keep an eye out! :)

How I Became a Morning Person

Photo credit: bobchin1941 on Flickr

Once upon a time, I was a night owl. Sort of. I got up at 8AM and went to bed a midnight (which I'm fully aware isn’t late to many people), and repeated the process the next day. I’d get work done in the morning and be really proud of myself when I finished much of my to-do list before noon.

After a while, however, I noticed a few things about myself:

• I worked really well in the morning. Something about starting the day off with a streak of productivity put me in a good mood for the rest of the day. 


• As the day went on, I got progressively lazier. Well, maybe lazy isn’t quite the right word, but as my energy levels drained, so did my motivation to do anything. 


• If I had to go out for any reason, especially for work or school, I absolutely did not want to do anything when I returned. I just didn’t have the energy to even try. So, basically, if I got up at 8AM and went to school at 9, the rest of the day was shot as far as productivity was concerned. 

So while this 8-midnight schedule worked okay for several years, after taking a year off from school and then later gearing up for a back to full-time school schedule, I realized if I really wanted to continue to get writing work done, I was going to need to get up earlier.

I mean, hypothetically I could try to work after classes, but I already knew from past experience that I wouldn’t want to. And trying to write when you’re exhausted and unmotivated? It sucks.

So despite the fact that the mere thought of getting up before dawn made me cringe, I changed my sleep schedule. I started going to bed between 9-10 and getting up between 5-5:30. After a few days of trying out my new schedule, something weird happened.

I realized I liked it.

Getting up between 5 and 5:30 gives me roughly three hours of free time before I have to leave for classes on my earliest days, and gives me plenty of time to get loads of things done before noon on the weekends. It’s now pretty common for me to check off everything I need to get done in a day before 11AM and have the rest of the day to write or edit or whatever else my heart desires. I’ve kept to this schedule during breaks and weekends and I plan do continue it over the summer because quite frankly? I work so much better in the morning than I ever did at 8 or 9 PM.

That being said, not everyone is like me. I have many writer friends who do their best writing between 10-2AM. I’m not going to say being a morning person is the only way to be a productive writer, but I do think that paying attention to yourself and figuring out when is the most productive time for you is important.

Maybe for you that time will be after midnight, or maybe, like me, it’ll be before the sun rises. But whatever it is, I encourage you to listen to your body and figure out what your zone is, because once you start hitting it consistently, you’ll be surprised just how much you can get done.

Do you know what your most productive writing time is?

Twitter-sized bite: 

Do you know what your most productive writing time is? @Ava_Jae discusses how she discovered hers. (Click to tweet) 

End of Year Countdown: 5 Top Fives of 2014

Photo credit: Amodiovalerio Verde on Flickr

It’s the last post of 2014, which means, as is tradition here on Writability, it’s time to share Writability’s annual five top fives of the year! Woot!

These tend to be longish posts, so I’m going to jump right into it. Here is the summary of 2014’s amazingness in terms of writerly awesome.

Top 5 Most Popular Posts (On Writability)

As per usual, these are calculated with blogger’s page view counts. Interestingly, the list is the same as the year before, with a little rearranging.

1. Why Write Blog Posts Consistently? 
2. Do You Listen to Music While Writing?
3. Writers: Start Acting Like Professionals
4. Tumblr for Writers
5. Pirating Books: It’s Not a Harmless Download

Top 5 Most Active Commenters

As explained every year, I use Disqus’s handy widget on my sidebar to keep track of how many comments every lovely commenter makes. The system isn’t perfect and only keeps track of accounts, so if you comment on multiple accounts, it thinks you’re more than one person, but anyway, these five fabulous readers are the most active commenters of the Writability community—thank you!

Note: Those with asterisks were on the top five list last year, too. And those with two asterisks were on the top five list the year before that! Double and triple thank yous!

1. Robin Red*
2. RoweMatthew**
3. Daniel Swensen**
4. Jen Donohue*
5. S.E. Dee

Top 5 Favorite Tumblr Blogs of the Year

Over the years, tumblr has become one of my favorite social media sites. I’ve learned a ridiculous amount from the gems posted there, and I’ve also really enjoyed the nerdy randomness that frequently appears on my feed.

These are my top five favorite tumblr blogs, as calculated by tumblr based off which blogs get the most reblogs and likes from me.

1. YA Highway
2. Jealous of Jetpacks (Beth Revis’s tumblr blog) 
3. Corinne Duyvis
4. Disability in Kidlit
5. The Writing Café

Top 5 Favorite Writing Blogs of the Year

I’ll openly admit I haven’t been able to keep up with other blogs lately, mostly because of time constraints. That being said, those that I do try to check in with or browse over are pretty great, and here are some of my favorites of the year (in no particular order):

Note: Those listed together are somewhat similar, which is why they’re listed together.

1. For really excellent (and honest) posts about the publishing industry/getting published: The Daily Dahlia (Dahlia Adler’s blog).


2. For wonderful weekly round-ups and writerly posts: YA Highway.


3. For excellent book reviews and cover reveals: IceyBooks & The Midnight Garden.


4. For agent and writer interviews as well as awesome writerly posts: chasingthecrazies (Amy Trueblood’s blog).


5. For great pub opportunities, including contests, giveaways and agent information: Miss Snark’s First Victim & Literary Rambles.

Top 5 Favorite Twitter Accounts

Twitter remains my favorite favorite. And these Twitter peoples are amazing (again, in no particular order):

1. @LucasMight
   
   Not only is Lucas a ridiculously nice person, but his tweets are sometimes quirky, sometimes insightful, sometimes hilarious, and always interesting. Also, he’s an excellent writer.


2. @gildedspine & @mariekeyn
   I’m listing these ladies together, because they’re both super wonderfully kind people who are also really amazing advocates. They speak their minds, talk about important issues, and I’ve learned so very much from them both.


3. @_DiversifYA
   
   I’m assuming most people already know about WeNeedDiverseBooks, but DiversifYA is another excellent proponent of diversity. They host semi-frequent Twitter chats discussing various aspects of diversity, and they also have great diverse profiles on their corresponding blog that they share on their Twitter. I definitely recommend them.


4. @MissDahlELama
   
   Not only is Dahlia yet another uber-nice writerly type, but she’s super insightful as far as publishing things go, and she’s a ridiculously good recommender of books. Seriously, if you ever want a book recommendation, see Dahlia ASAP.


5. @_Snape_
   
   I always list Snape in these round-ups because it’s one of my favorite hilarious follows.
   
   I mean, case and point:
   
   

   If you're reading this, you've already begun avoiding your family. Merry Christmas.
   — Professor Snape (@_Snape_) December 25, 2014

So those are my top fives of 2014—do you have any favorites of the year you’d like to share? 

Also, Happy New Year, everyone! 

Twitter-sized bite: 

Writer @Ava_Jae shares her top fives of 2014—what are some of your favorite writing resources of the year? (Click to tweet)

How the Internet Has Made Me a Better Person

Photo credit: Peter Ras on Flickr

It’s no secret that news-type sources have been less than kind to those who spend any significant amount of time online. Those who spend a lot of time online are often labelled anti-social, even if whatever they’re distracted with online is inherently social, but I digress.

The point is, the internet kind of gets a bad rap. And I want to do my part to help change that, because to be honest? The internet has made me a better person.

The internet has exposed me to viewpoints and voices I may have never heard on my own. The internet has introduced me to some really incredible, passionate people who speak up online about issues I may not have otherwise even thought about. The internet has brought me We Need Diverse Books, DiversifYA, Diversity in YA, Disability in Kidlit, and The Gay YA. The internet has raved to me about books and authors who I’m not sure I would have found on my own.

The internet brought me YA and NA—categories that have absolutely framed my writing journey. The internet gave me an internship, which led to another internship, which led to my Assistant Editor position. The internet showed me the wonders of pitch fests and blog contests—one of which lead to signing with my incredible agent, which absolutely would not have happened on my own, because she isn’t open to queries.

The internet gave me a place to talk and learn about writing. The internet inspired me to start a blog of my own, which has turned into this amazing, beautiful place where I can help other writers in ways I never imagined when I first started out. The internet introduced me to so many absolutely wonderful people, many of whom I consider my friends. The internet encouraged me to open up, to accept who I am, to do what I can to help others, to be passionate and geeky and brave.

I’ve come a long way since I first dove into the online community on April 10, 2011. But the person I am today is a more confident, happier, better version of myself, and for that, in no small part, I thank the internet.

Has the internet made you a better person? 

Twitter-sized bite: 

Writer @Ava_Jae says the internet has made her a better person. What do you think? (Click to tweet) 

Guest Post Mini-Contest!

Photo credit: rsutton198 | oneninety8.com on Flickr

So over the years I’ve had many gracious offers for guest posts here on Writability, and while I wasn’t ready to open up the blog to guest posts I didn’t specifically request myself, the time has now come! At least, for a week.

The week of the 22nd of June is going to be a rather busy and stressful one for me (but for good reasons!), and so I’m going to be taking a mini-break. Granted, I’ll probably find a way to do bloggerly and writerly work during my mini-break because that’s just how I am, but point is I have THREE open slots for guest posts. And I’m leaving it up to you guys to fill them.

The posts will be up on Monday the 23rd, Wednesday the 25th, and Friday the 27th. I’ll be accepting posts from TODAY to next Friday, the 13th, and I’ll notify those who have been chosen on or by the 18th.

Posts should be about writing, books or publishing. I’ll also accept posts about social media geared to writers (i.e.: my tumblr for writers post). Before you submit, make sure I haven’t already covered the topic you’ve written about (or are thinking you might write about) by checking my directory. As of this post, I’ve written 494 posts, so I’ve covered a lot of ground. :)

Keep in mind! I’m all for taking a subject that might not traditionally be writing-related and show how it could be helpful to writers. Or put a writerly spin on it. Or something.

As for what I’m looking for! I want some fresh voices here on Writability. I have absolutely no idea what I’ll choose, but I will say if you can make me laugh, I will remember you. So.

The three posts I choose will include a mini-bio of the writer (that’s you!) and up to five links of your choosing. Yay! I also expect that you try to answer any comments on your guest post because the community here is fabulous and they deserve to hear from you.

If I don’t get enough entries, I’ll just write up more posts myself. Or if I don’t feel the entries are quite what I’m looking for, I’ll write up posts myself. So really, whether or not this works entirely depends on you guys.

So you’re interested in entering? Awesome!

• Please use my contact form between now and 11:59PM Friday, June 13 EST to enter a guest post that you have written. Copy and paste the whole post into the message box there. 


• You may enter up to three posts if you so choose. 


• Posts should be between 100 and 500 words. 250 is roughly average and anything longer than 500 will probably be rejected. 


• Please use block formatting (no indents, single space, double space between paragraphs, plain text) to make my life easy when copying and pasting. 


• I’ll choose my three favorite posts. What makes them my favorite may vary. Be yourself, write something that would work well subject-wise on this blog and voila. 


• In the event that I get way more entries than I expected, I reserve the right to close the entry period early. Conversely, if I don't get enough entries that I think would fit, I may choose less than three (or none at all). 

Good luck! 

Twitter-sized bite:

Want a chance to have your guest post featured on @Ava_Jae’s blog? Check out her mini blog contest and enter! (Click to tweet)

Fixing the First Page Feature Giveaway Winner!

Photo credit: Creativity+ Timothy K Hamilton on Flickr

Super short off-schedule post to let you guys know I have a winner for the First Page Feature
giveaway! Are you ready?

The winner is...

EMMY NEAL! 

Yay! Congrats, Emmy! I'll be e-mailing you shortly to let you know the next steps.

Thanks to all who entered! If all goes well, I'll be doing this more often. :)

Hope you're all having a wonderful Easter/Passover/general weekend!

End of Year Countdown: 5 Top Fives of 2013

Photo credit: life is good (pete) on Flickr

It’s the last post of the 2013! Which means it’s time to share Writability’s annual five top fives of the year. Yay! 

So here we are! A summary of 2013’s awesomeness in terms of writerly goodness. 

Top 5 Most Popular Posts (On Writability) 

As always, calculated with blogger’s page view counts, here are Writability’s top five most popular posts: 

1. Why Write Blog Posts Consistently?
2. Do You Listen to Music While Writing? 
3. Writers: Start Acting Like Professionals
4. Pirating Books: It’s Not a Harmless Download
5. Tumblr for Writers

Top 5 Most Active Commenters 

As explained two years ago, I use Disqus’s handy widget on my sidebar to keep track of how many comments every commenter makes. The system isn’t perfect and only keeps track of accounts, so if you comment on multiple accounts, it thinks you’re more than one person, but at any rate, these five awesome readers are the most active commenters of the Writability community—thank you! 

Note: Those with asterisks were on the top five list last year, too. Double thank you! 

1. Daniel Swensen*
2. Robin Red
3. RoweMatthew*
4. Margaret E. Alexander*
5. Jen Donohue

Top 5 Favorite Tumblr Blogs of the Year

I’ve really grown to love tumblr. And if you love tumblr too, or give tumblr a try this year, make sure you’re following these five wonderful tumblr blogs: 

1. Jealous of Jetpacks (Beth Revis’s tumblr blog)
2. YA Highway
3. The Writing Café
4. It’s a Writer Thing
5. New Leaf Literary & Media, Inc.’s tumblr blog

Top 5 Favorite Writing Blogs of the Year

If you’re here, I already know you like reading writing blogs, so I think you’ll like these too. Because these are my favorite writing blogs of the year: 

1. Writers Helping Writers
2. The Write Practice
3. Chasingthecrazies (Amy Trueblood’s blog)
4. Miss Snark’s First Victim
5. YA Highway

Top 5 Favorite Favorite Twitter Accounts

Twitter is basically my favorite thing ever. And these Twitter accounts are awesome: 

1. Brenda Drake
   
   Brenda is wonderful not only because she’s a genuinely nice person, but because she frequently runs contests and pitchfests for writers. If you want to keep up to date with contests for writers going on, definitely follow her. 


2. Janice Hardy and Elizabeth S. Craig
   Janice and Elizabeth consistently share great posts for writers. Definitely recommended for a daily dose of insightful posts. 


3. Pub(lishing) Crawl
   
   Another great Twitter for writers! They tweet and retweet posts, tweets and information for writers from all around the Twittersphere. 


4. Professor Snape
   
   And this one has nothing to do with writers at all, but if you’re a Harry Potter fan, you’ll love Snape’s joyful tweets. Like this one:
   

   This week feels longer than Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
   — Professor Snape (@_Snape_) November 14, 2013

5. Tahereh Mafi
   
   Simply because she’s hysterical, writes awesome books and is yet another genuinely super nice person. 

So those are my top fives of 2013—do you have any favorites of the year you'd like to share? 

Hope everyone has a wonderful New Year!

Twitter-sized bite:

Writer @Ava_Jae shares her top fives of 2013—what are some of your favorite writing resources of the year? (Click to tweet)

Post-#PitMad Thoughts

Photo credit: nvk_ on Flickr

A fun post today, after a long week of #PitMad prep and a day full of the twelve-hour event itself.

The point of pitch events like #PitMad is, of course, to try to get some requests from publishing professionals, but there are a lot of other benefits that people tend not to talk about quite as much:

• Meet other writers. Events like #PitMad brings writers out from all corners of the internet. Making new friends and connections is the whole point of social media, and these events are the perfect time to meet new people.


• See what agents and editors like. I saw someone suggest that check out favorites from publishing professionals to see what they’re requesting, which I think is a really smart strategy. If you’re looking to query, for the next few days at least, you should be able to scroll through their favorites to see what they’re looking for at the moment.


• See what others are writing/pitching. Nothing reveals the querying trends like scrolling through an hour of #PitMad. Writers who pitch during these events are the same writers who are querying while you’re querying, and it helps to be able to see what agents and editors are seeing a lot of.


• Learn what makes one pitch more effective than others. Just looking at the pitches and determining which ones grab your attention and which ones make your eyes glaze over can be a big help when writing or rewriting your pitch later on.

Some things to remember:

• There will always be trolls. Whenever there are public events, there are going to be people who use the opportunity to spam, or put others down, or make fun of those participating. It happens, and the best response is to brush them off. Don’t let a few negative people get you down.


• Just because your pitch isn’t favorited doesn’t mean you shouldn’t query. Or as Agent extraordinaire Jessica Sinsheimer said:

Please don't assume that I have seen your pitch, and decided no, if I didn't favorite. There are so many, and it's a busy day. #PitMad
— Jessica Sinsheimer (@jsinsheim) September 12, 2013 

Guess what? Sometimes even though you pitched twice an hour every hour, people don’t see your pitch. Or they see your pitch, and it doesn’t grab their attention, but when they see your extended pitch (also known as a query) and an excerpt, it does grab their interest. It happens, so don’t assume that just because you didn’t get a favorite doesn’t mean you can’t query any of the agents who participated in #PitMad. 

Case and point:

I don't mind things like #pitmad. They can be fun & force you to conceptualize your novel. But a full query + sample pages is always better.
— Sarah LaPolla (@sarahlapolla) September 12, 2013

So for those of you who participated or glanced at #PitMad (or have in the past), what did you learn from the event?

Twitter-sized bites: 

Did you participate in #PitMad this week? What did you learn? Join the discussion at @Ava_Jae's blog! (Click to tweet) 

One writer shares her post-#PitMad thoughts. What did you learn from the Twitter pitch party? (Click to tweet)

'Twas the Night Before Christmas (For Writers)

A fun (re-)post for Christmas, with apologies to Clement C. Moore, written by yours truly.

Photo credit: Joe Buckingham on Flickr

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the night
Not a writer was writing, not word was in sight.
Blank pages were scattered on desks and on floors,
In hopes that the manuscripts would leap from their drawers.

The radio was humming a song of good cheer,
Yet I, tortured writer, wished a muse would appear.
And I with my coffee and family asleep
Did stare at the page trying hard not to weep.

When out in the snow there came such a noise,
I fell from my chair, disregarding all poise.
I ran to the door, my heart in my throat,
And did throw it open, forgetting my coat.

And Christmas lights glowing on glittering snow
Seemed just for a moment to put on a show.
When to my astonishment—I’ll admit I did shout,
Came a sleigh from the sky led by reindeers on route.

A driver with eyes spilling over with laughter,
His face I did know I’d remember thereafter.
With a beard so white and his cheeks set aglow,
He waved and he smiled, “It’s me, don’t you know!”

I gaped for a moment and stuttered and said,
“This cannot be real—it’s all in my head!”
But Santa, he snickered and said with delight,
“I hear, my dear child, that you love to write.”

“It’s true,” I said, looking down at my feet,
“But a writer I’m not—I’ve admitted defeat.”
And Santa, he frowned—looked me straight in the eye,
And he said, “You’re a writer, don’t let your dream die.”

So I told him my troubles, how the words wouldn’t come,
And he said, “It’s a gift—it won’t always be fun.
It won’t always be easy or simple or kind,
But for writing, my girl, is what you were designed.”

And he lifted my chin with his finger and said,
“These troubles you’re having—they’re all in your head!
So go back inside and rest for the night,
But know that tomorrow, you’ll write at first light!”

He climbed back on his sleigh and took off in the air,
The reindeers—they trampled the stars with their flair.
So inside I went and turned off the TV,
And sat by the fire with a hot cup of tea.

Asleep, there I fell, and I dreamt of the page
And when I awoke—my mind a golden age!
I rushed to my computer and typed until dawn,
His words, I soon realized—they were right all along!

In hindsight I suppose, I shouldn’t have been surprised,
For that day it was Christmas, true and undisguised.
And that man that I saw, whether he was Santa or not,
He brought to my mind things that I had forgot.

A writer’s a writer every day of the week,
On good days, on bad days, on nights that seem bleak.
But I do what I can and what I can is to write,
As Santa reminded me to my delight.

So next time your writing refuses to flow,
Remember what Santa said to me and know,
You’re a writer tonight and always will be,
For writing is truly what makes you feel free.

Merry Christmas everyone! 

Writing--What's Your Favorite Part?

Photo credit: _StaR_DusT_ on Flickr

We all know writing isn't an easy thing—finding the time, getting ideas, discovering voice, editing and rewriting and editing and rewriting again—it’s a lot of work, and quite frankly, sometimes it’s frustrating.

But what about the moments that make it all worth it? I don’t think we talk enough about them.  

So, let’s talk: what’s your favorite part of writing?

For me, there are two parts that I can’t get enough of:

1. The discovery—the moment when a character comes alive—really comes to life for the first time on the page—when they do something unexpected or say something that makes you grin every time you read over it, that moment when you can say, “Wow, I really found you.” Discovery can be in the characters, in a world you’ve created that finally clicks, in that plot point that you’ve needed for days that suddenly hits you…the discovery is easily one of my favorite parts of writing.


2. Wow…I wrote this?—This part I suppose is more of my favorite part of rewriting, since it tends to come up much more often after a bajillion drafts, but when you read over something for the umpteenth time and it hits you that it’s right, that it sounds finished, that you wrote it…that’s something really special.

Let’s take a moment to focus on the parts that make everything worth it. Tell me guys, what’s your favorite part of writing? 

Survivor's Guide: The Internet Abyss

So as many of you know, I was deprived of internet for over 24 hours. It was a trying time in which I began to suffer serious withdrawals around the 30-hour mark. Ok, I exaggerate, but I really wanted to check my Twitter…and blog…and everything else.

Thankfully I have just about the best tweeps known to man who RTed my corny pre-scheduled tweets like no tomorrow so that Friday’s blog post didn’t suffer a painful and lonely death.  I also had an epiphany and was able to fix my Facebook like box and add it to the blog just moments after I reconnected to the internet. (See it? Isn’t it pretty?)

It’s beautiful, I know.

ANYway, I thought it’d be fun to create a guide for surviving lack of internet. I’ve titled it…

SURVIVOR’S GUIDE: THE INTERNET ABYSS

Catchy, right? It’s catchy.

So here we go. The brief, and life-saving Survivor’s Guide:

The Internet Abyss is a frightening, dangerous place and must not under any circumstances be entered unprepared. Venturing into such a place without training or tools for survival may cause serious injury or death.

I barely escaped with my own life.

Should you ever find yourself in the abyss, take these steps to ensure you escape unharmed.

DON’T PANIC. I know it’s terrifying. The little red “X” over the internet access symbol is enough to send even the most experienced veterans into cardiac arrest. Take a deep breath and know that this is temporary. Breathe in, breathe out, relax.

Repeat after me: This is only temporary. This is only temporary.

SHINY DISTRACTIONS. FIND THEM. My shiny distraction was a brainstorming notebook. Once I regulated my breathing, I found a pencil and began sketching out a WIP. I didn’t finish, but I made a lot of progress. You can too.

Other productive distractions: Books, Microsoft Word, bills, grocery shopping, NOTEBOOKS, to-do list, books. Prioritize as you wish (but books are there twice for a reason).

Other (less productive) distractions (but equally shiny): Movies, cupcakes, music, ferrets, confetti, puppies, video games and that song that’s been stuck in your head all day (Arabian Nights, anyone? No? Ok, just me then.)

GET A BUDDY. Strange things happen to people when they’re isolated. They start pacing, rocking back and forth, talking to themselves and occasionally even find an old volleyball to be their new best friend. Don’t enter the Internet Abyss alone if you can help it. Your mental health may suffer.

UPON ESCAPE…REJOICE! And create your own Survivor’s Guide. So, you know, your friends don’t suffer the same fate as you.

Oh yes. And since you have internet now, watch this because it’s pretty hysterical:

Have you entered the Internet Abyss? What survival tips do you have?