Giveaways
Erin L. Schneider
Goodreads Giveaway: SUMMER OF SLOANE
Goodreads Giveaway: SUMMER OF SLOANE

YA Buccaneers

Spring Writing Bootcamp Check-In

Yes, I know it's Tuesday...and I'm a little late checking in.

It's been a crazy few weeks / months, but as of last Friday, things will hopefully begin to settle down a little. Maybe. 

Regardless. I have high hopes for getting some serious writing and reading done. And I've already managed to check off a few things from list of goals!

APRIL GOALS:

  1. Work on my new YA Contemporary / Adventure WIP: NAME OF THE GAME (NOTG). 
    UPDATE 4/22: I wrote an entire chapter on Saturday. Not sure where in the story it will go (somewhere up close to the beginning), but I wrote it - and it was so much fun!
  2. Continue to read / finish CP's MS!
    4/22 UPDATE: I'm almost finished with the first pass / read of one of my CP's newest MS's - and I love it - you hear me HS? I LOVE IT! I've got two other CP's that I'm dying to read for (one is a re-read on a story that has been LONG OVERDUE - yes, KFO, I'm talking about YOU! And one CP that I'm finally getting to read an entire story for, for the very first time - yes, BG, that's YOU!).
  3. Host / participate in a Word Sprint or two!
    4/22 UPDATE: Yours truly will be hosting THREE Word Sprints this week: Wednesday - Friday, all of them at 2pm EST. Join me?
  4. Cheer on my fellow Team Rainier writers!
  5. Read 5 books minimum. 
    4/22 UPDATE: So far I've read FEVER and SEVER by Lauren DeStefano, to close out that series - which I thought was okay. I started in on the beast of hardbacks - what is 613 pages of DREAMS OF GODS & MONSTERS by Laini Taylor, and I'm about halfway done. And as mentioned above, I'm almost done with my first pass on a CP's newest MS - so that means I still have ONE more book to finish before this month is done!

MAY GOALS:

  1. NAME OF THE GAME writing goal: minimum of 10,000 words for the month.
  2. Host / participate in a Word Sprint or two! 
  3. Same goal as April, cheer on the awesome that is Team Rainier!

 

How is everyone else doing? I hope your writing and reading is coming along for the month of April...but not to worry, we still have May ahead of us, too!

Spring Writing Bootcamp: Check-in #6

As part of the YA Buccaneers Spring Writing Bootcamp, I posted my goals here when we first started in on this crazy adventure. 

And then the past few weeks / month kind of took a turn for the worse and things have been, well, they've been pretty hectic to say the least.

But...I am happy to say this past weekend I did jump back into the swing of things and started working on my new WIP -- which has me all kinds of excited!

So without further adieu, here are my goals as of today:

APRIL:

1. Work on my new YA Contemporary / Adventure WiP -- working title: NAME OF THE GAME.
Goal for now = 2,500 words / week (TBA: To Be Adjusted!)
2. Continue to read / finish CP's MS!
3. Host / participate in a Word Sprint or two!
4. Cheer on my fellow Team Rainier writers!

MAY:

1. NAME OF THE GAME writing goal: minimum of 10,000 words.
2. Host / participate in a Word Sprint or two! 
3. Same goal as April, cheer on the awesome that is Team Rainier!

TEAM 2 / Team Rainier 

FYI: If you haven't joined a team yet and you're still interested - hop on over to the YA Buccaneers and let us know! It's never to late to join and we'd love to have you! If there's a specific team you'd like to be a part of, don't forget to mention that too!

So how are your writing goals coming along? Post a comment here, give a shout out on Twitter using #YABBootcamp, or hop on over to the YA Buccaneers and let us know so we can cheer you on!

Spring Writing Bootcamp: Check-In #2

As part of the YA Buccaneers Spring Writing Bootcamp, I posted my goals here the other day! However, now that I've successfully completed the one goal I set for March (hey, it was a BIG goal), I realize I can't just leave it like that. I can't just leave two weeks left to the month, with no writing goals in sight. 

So, I've decided to add more to my list:

MARCH:

1. Send Agent revisions (with CP edits) to Super Agent Lisa. CHECK! Sent Saturday, 3.8
2. Dive in on a new MS from one of my awesome CP's! Started reading on Tuesday, 3.11 - and I'm LOVING IT!
3. Host / participate in a Word Sprint or two!

APRIL:

1. If Lisa has changes she'd like to see, then I'll be working on those this month.
2. Otherwise, I have a SNI I've been itching to write - working title: NAME OF THE GAME
3. Continue to read / finish CP's MS!
4. Host / participate in a Word Sprint or two!

MAY:

1. NAME OF THE GAME writing goal: minimum of 10,000 words.
2. Host / participate in a Word Sprint or two! 

And in case you missed it, we announced our accountability teams last week - and mine is full of nothing but awesome:

TEAM 2 / Team Rainier 

If you haven't joined a team yet and you're still interested - hop on over to the YA Buccaneers and let us know! It's never to late to join and we'd love to have you! If there's a specific team you'd like to be a part of, don't forget to mention that too!

So how are your writing goals coming along? Post a comment here, give a shout out on Twitter using #YABBootcamp, or hop on over to the YA Buccaneers and let us know so we can cheer you on!

Spring Writing Bootcamp: Check-In #1

As part of the YA Buccaneers Spring Writing Bootcamp, I posted my goals here the other day!

Today is the very first Monday check-in and I'm happy to announce:

I've already completed my goal for March!

I know, I know...it's only the 10th of March and I still have 2/3 of the month to go! But, I swear I didn't cheat. Pinky promise I didn't set a lame goal. Because I set this one late last month when I was neck deep in agent / CP revisions and was thinking it would take a lot longer. It's just that everything kind of came together over the past couple of weeks and I was able to push through much faster than expected. I tied up a few loose ends this past week, re-read my MS in it's entirety, and was able to hit send to my agent on Saturday. And man does it feel great!

I won't hear back from her for a couple of weeks, as she has a ton of reading that came in just before mine - but I think I'm okay with that...and I could definitely use the time to maybe relax just a little. Or, yanno, start in on my April goal?

Aside from that, I'm super excited to also share that we've announced the Accountability Teams for our Spring Writing Bootcamp -- and can I just say, I have THE. BEST. TEAM. EV-VER!!!!!! 

TEAM 2 

Yep, we're Team #2, and we're otherwise known as:

I know I may be biased, but I have no doubt in my mind that this team is going to BRING IT. We've got some lofty goals (okay, some more so than others) and by the time this three months is up, there is going to be some amazing writing by all. I'm already so proud of this team for stepping up to take the challenge, so I know that's only a glimpse into what's to come.

So to all those "other" teams out there...I hope you've got your hiking boots laced up tight -- because you're in for a hike!

Spring Writing Bootcamp!!!

Over at the YA Buccaneers, we're getting our writing in shape this spring!

For the next three months, we're challenging YOU to set writing goals and actually stick to them. And to help you out, we're putting together accountability teams, inspiring and informative blog posts on writing and revising, annnnnd PRIZES to help keep you motivated!

Check out this post for all the details to learn how you too can get motivated to write, set goals, and sign up to be on a bootcamp team! 

And what are my goals for the next three months?

March:

I finished my revisions on WHERE THE WATER FALLS (my YA Contemp you can read more about here), sent it out to my CP's for a final read through, and am now making last minute changes based on their feedback. I will have these revisions done this weekend, so I can finally get it back to Super Agent Lisa no later than next week.

April:

If Lisa has changes she'd like to see, then I'll be working on those this month. Otherwise, I have a SNI I've been itching to write - working title: NAME OF THE GAME

May:

NAME OF THE GAME writing goal: minimum of 10,000 words.

So what are your writing goals this Spring? Need some extra incentive to get it done? All you have to do is join us, we'll make sure you're in tip top shape come June. I dare you.

And I promise, it will be fun - here's what you need to do:

1. Post your Spring Writing Bootcamp Goals on your blog.
2. Add your blog link
3. Join a support team if you want and/or support others on twitter and social media. Check out the YA Buccaneers Post for more details and info on prizes, etc.!!

2013 Rewind: My Top 10 YA Reads

As 2013 comes to a close, I joined my fellow crew over at the YA Buccaneers to look back at my top 10 YA reads for the year:

10. ANNA DRESSED IN BLOOD by Kendare Blake

9. SHATTER ME by Taherah Mafi

8. UNRAVEL ME by Taherah Mafi

7. JUST ONE DAY by Gayle Forman

6. THE 5TH WAVE by Rick Yancey

5. THE BOOK OF BROKEN HEARTS by Sarah Ockler

4. CROWN OF MIDNIGHT by Sarah J. Maas

3. THRONE OF GLASS by Sarah J. Maas

2. SHADOW AND BONE by Leigh Bardugo

1. SIEGE AND STORM by Leigh Bardugo

If you hopped over here from the YA Buccaneers site***, you already know I picked SIEGE AND STORM as my #1 pick, for the following reason:

SIEGE AND STORM by Leigh Bardugo wins my favorite book for 2013, thanks to the compelling story arc and amazing cast of characters. Like many, I'm a huge fan of the Darkling and can't wait to see where Bardugo takes him and Alina in book #3 -- but a new character introduced in this second installment, Sturmhond, was the one I couldn't wait to read more of! This character's quick wit and great sense of humor had me flying through the pages -- and I'm really hoping there will be more of him in RUIN AND RISING. A lot more of him.

So, so many great reads this year, it was hard to pick just ten. Especially since there were many I didn't get a chance to read yet, that I'm sure would've made the list -- like THE DREAM THIEVES by Maggie Stiefvater, RUBY RED by Kerstin Gier, and FANGIRL by Rainbow Rowell. Who knows, maybe they'll make my list for 2014!

***Don't forget to head back over to the YA Buccaneers to check out the top 10 lists for the rest of the crew -- and enter to win this month's giveaway to win an autographed copy of ALLEGIANT by Veronica Roth!

I'd love to hear, what were some of your favorite YA reads this year?