Saturday, May 03, 2008

A drive by posting...

Does anyone remember that scene from Mrs. Doubtfire when (s)he says "It was a drive by fruiting!"? Am I the only one who remembers totally random movie quotes and then uses them all the time?

Anyways, I've been horribly remiss about posting, but remember that I do post every Tuesday over at the Manuscript Mavens :) I've just been lazy about cross-posting those here. I hope to do better (I always hope to do better). In a nutshell, here are the updates...

First, there's been a helicopter hovering over our house ever since I got up this morning. Obama and Clinton have been in the area recently, and I know Chelsea was in the park behind our house last week. Makes me wonder if something exciting is going on outside...

Second, I had a fantastic weekend last weekend at the WRW Retreat in Maryland (that's the Washington DC chapter of RWA). I went mostly to hang out with my friend and CP, Diana Peterfreund, but I was also lucky enough to meet some amazing and terribly fun authors -- Kresley Cole (I now have a stack of her books on my nightstand) and Amanda Brice. It was by far some of the best fun I've had in ages. As much as I adore the online writing community, there's something to be said for sitting with a gallon of vodka and just talking about everything! Also, Kresley gave a fantastic workshop on writing paranormal romance. It was one of those workshops where it all makes so much sense that you don't write notes because you're like "dude, that's so true!" and then afterwards you're like "crap, I need notes!"

Third, I just found this great website -- thanks to Reviewer X for passing it on! It's not only a review site but also has a weekly YA roundup. I'm definitely tuning in!

Fifth, I'm knee deep in Book 2 and it has a title! And even better, I think Delacorte likes the title! But I have no idea how these things go about getting officially approved so until then, I'll just be referring to Book 2 as either B2, WIP, or DTW. Just to keep things confusing :)

Sixth, the puppy is doing great! He's awesome at training and heels, sits, and places beautifully. He really is such a sweet boy! Though occasionally one of the cats will trap him in the kitchen and he whines and whines and whines. Really, it's terribly hard not to laugh!

Seventh, JP is writing a book! And it's awesome and he's racking up words and I've been loving every bit of it! Seriously, I can't wait to read more! Yay JP! Everyone go cheer him on!

Eighth, this weekend is chock full o' fun stuff. Cinco de Mayo party tonight, more margaritas with friends tomorrow, lots of writing and of course chatting with the Debs.

Ninth, soon I shall be working on my website. Anything in particular y'all like to see with websites? Any particular websites y'all like or dislike? Anything you think should be avoided?

Tenth, (really, it was all about trying to get a top ten thing going on here), I finally grabbed the dog and stepped outside to see what was up with the helicopter. To my surprise, this is what I found -- the MetLife blimp has been hovering over our house

PS - bonus picture. Since my family always likes to joke (*cough*) that they keep up with me via my blog, here's a picture of my recent hair cut. Of course here it's all blown out straight, normally it's curly :)

5 comments:

Steph said...

Hey Carrie (first time I ever posted on your blog...)! Thanks for mentioning me, that's so nice!

As for your website, hmm... I do my bit of website hunting myself and I really, really love it when an author puts up the story behind how their book got published. Ally Carter did this and I thought it was genius.

Put up an interesting FAQ is my second suggestion--I visit those things all the time for interview questions and wow, some authors' are really bland. One I really liked with Brooke Taylor's (www.brooketaylorbooks.com). She didn't know exactly what to put there, so she got questions from other author's. Not saying you should do that, but hey, make it original :D

Pictures. Picturespicturespictures! I love seeing fun author pictures :)

One site I overall just really loved was Niki Burnham's: http://www.nikiburnham.com/, because it was all in all very informative and professional.

I won't mention sites I didn't like cos should any of those authors stop here...well...I review books, not websites! :)

Again, thanks for the mention,
Steph

Patrick Alan said...

What happened fourth? :)

Like the hair cut!

Carrie Ryan said...

Steph! Awesome ideas about the website! Thanks so much! And I mentioned your blog on my LJ and someone created a feed for you over there so yay! (I tend to spend lots more time on LJ these days...).

Patrick -- I can't believe I forgot 4! Um... it's been gorgeous weather and I've loved writing with the windows open and the cats curled against the screens :)

B.E. Sanderson said...

LOL, I'm a random movie-quoter, too. I love the drive-by fruiting line.

Your pup-tart is gorgeous, and I love your haircut. Try and stay sane with all the politics in your general area. Yay to JP for writing, and Yay to you for cranking on B2.

Darcy Burke said...

Carrie, I just wanted to say you look so cute! :-)