Need something to do over the holidays? If you’re a teen, you should consider HarperTeen’s Writing Challenge. You can win up to $5000 and a call from a HarperTeen author! You must submit a short story, poem or song by January 7, 2008 to be eligible. Want the rules? Check here: http://www.myspace.com/harperteen. 🙂

We’ve got some very talented past winners of last year’s HarperTeen contest that are regular bloggers and readers of this blog. So give the contest a try.

I’m back to editing and writing an entry for a new Chicken Soup book. Happy Tuesday!

I don’t want to ruffle any feathers, really, but there’s something disturbing (in my opinion) going on. The Golden Compass is being attacked. Yes, people are attacking a children’s movie. I’ve been reading several online threads of support both for and against the movie and I don’t know about you, but it feels like Harry Potter resistance all over again. Anyone else notice this?

A thread somewhere got my attention when a poster said something like, “Oh, some parents think if their kid loves the movie, he/she will want to read the book and then will become an atheist.” Really? From a children’s novel? Huh. And I was under the impression that reading expanded kids’ minds and don’t we think they’re strong enough not to be influenced by everything they read, watch or hear?

I cannot wait to see the movie. I love Nicole Kidman, love the book and think the trailer looks amazing!

If that felt like a rant, well, it was. It seems that some people go waaaay too far and I’m sure the backlash against the movie will only get stronger.

So, what’s your take on the situation?

Okay, fiction writers pay attention! If you’re already published or have a book under contract, you’re cordially invited to become a member of Teri Brown’s “fiction writers discuss publicity” as a Yahoo! group. Teri created a wonderful group to use a resource for us to share publicity tips and tricks. She’s NOT using the group to spam or to promote one’s book. If you’d like to join, take a look here:

http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/fictionwritersdiscusspublicity/

There are already lots of great (and soon to be great!) authors on board and thank you Teri for thinking of this. 🙂

I don’t know about you guys, but I haven’t NaNoed in 2 days. Two days is a long time in NaNo world! But I’ve been editing lots and feel good about that. 🙂 I’m sooo ready for the weekend and I’ve got a couple of movies I’ve been dying to see.

A big, big congrats to Jackson Pearce on the sale of her novel to HarperCollins!! She’s another young writer, so go visit her blog and congratulate her. 🙂

So, I started seriously riding horses when I was seven or eight and rode until I was thirteen and had back surgey. Now, during that time, I was not a dressage rider. I read about it, looked at pictures of dressage riders in Horse Illustrated, but did not participate in what’s sometimes referred to as “horse ballet.” But in Chasing Blue, I have several dressage scenes. The horse accuracy is completely on my shoulders, so I had to do some research on dressage including the course, movements, attire and scoring. The more I read, the more I wish I had tried dressage! The benefits to horse and rider are numerous and it’s quite a beautiful discipline. I’ve also been checking out lots of horse blogs and getting inspiration from those.

Do you research any parts of your fiction? How do you decide how technical to get?

And the countdown to Thanksgiving is on. 🙂 What’re you doing for the holiday?

I’m beyond excited to annouce…. Take the Reins is now listed for pre-order (yay!) on Amazon!! I just found the link today and it makes everything feel so real to see your name on Amazon. Wow. I’m in utter shock! 🙂

I feel like a real author now. Okay, back to work…if I can stop looking at Amazon…

Okay, so we’re at day nine here and I hope we haven’t lost anyone! 🙂 In addition to typing NaNo, when I feel I need a break, I switch over to magazine queries. During Christmas break, I hope to write 15-20 queries and be ready to mail them out during January. At least they’ll be written and all I have to do next year is e-mail them out. Writing the queries and deciding on ideas really takes the most time.

WGA STRIKE UPDATE:

If you want up to the second coverage, I highly suggest Deadline Hollywood Daily by Nikki Finke. She’s really got an insider’s view since I can only report what I’ve been reading or seeing on TV.

Actors are turning the heat on studios and showing great support for writers. Ray Romano, Patricia Heaton, Nicollette Sheridan and Julianne Moore are the lastest stars to join the strike.

Also, I was sad to see that Ellen got blasted for continuing to tape shows. As she (and other actors) have pointed out–actors have contracts, too. They MUST work and Ellen has voiced support for the writers, but she is under contract to tape shows. You can’t get upset with her for that. I’d hate to see writers turning on actors and vice versa. Everyone in NYC and Hollywood needs to work together to end this. People are out of work–both actors and writers–and with our economy already precarious, I’d love to see a quick resolution to this.

We’re officially onto day eight! How’s everyone feeling? I got a little tired yesterday, but I’m getting encouraged again since we’re at day 8 and the word count is going up.

Has anyone gone to a sponsored write in yet? Or have you had your own write in? I think I’ll have my own private write in party on Sunday and set myself up for four hours of typing. No TV or distractions. Just writing. See, I’m trying to talk myself into it… 🙂

By the way, has anyone been watching GOSSIP GIRL? I keep meaning to ask. I haven’t seen an episode yet, but I plan to start watching them online. I’m curious if people who’ve read the books like the TV show.

WGA STRIKE UPDATE:

Felicity Huffman and Bill Macy joined strikers in LA. Patrick Dempsey, Katherine Heigl, Sandra Oh, Sally Fields, Ellen Pompeo, Sara Ramirez, John Stamos and Jimmy Kimmel also joined the WGA strikers. It’s so nice to see actors supporting writers. I believe it was Sara who summed it up perfectly and said without the writers, she and the other actors would not have the characters we all know and love.

News reports say no new talks are scheduled.

Brr! It got down to the low 40s last night, so I’m sitting wrapped in a blanket on my couch and typing away for NaNo. Yes, it does get freezing cold in FL, believe it or not. 😉

I’ve been thinking a lot about my target word count for this MG novel. It’s going to be 58-60k, so there will be much more typing after NaNo, but at least I’ve got the bulk of it down on paper. Anyone else have a target word count?

Oooh, I forgot to mention that HBO invaded my town this week to make a movie about Florida’s election (how seriously embarrassing) in 2000. Kevin Spacey, the guy who played Doyle on Gilmore Girls and a couple of other stars are filming downtown. If I could actually get around the barricades downtown, I’d definitely check it out, but everything is roped off. Humpf. 🙂

STRIKE UPDATE:

Eva Longoria Parker handed out pizza to writers on strike as Desperate Housewives shut down production. No new talks are scheduled for writers and studios. I wish I was in NYC or LA to join them!

Week one is almost over! Hopefully, everyone is still going strong! A big shout out to Steph who had no time to type earlier and is now waaay up with the word count! Yay! 🙂

I ended yesterday at 12,000 and am going to get started in a while. I’ve got a bit of reading to do on some sections I edited in book one and then it’s back to book two.

On the news last night, I saw Jay Leno handing out snacks to the writers on strike. Tina Fey picked up a sign in NYC and Julia Louis Dreyfuss did so in LA. Regis Philbin’s daughter, J.J., a writer for Heroes and for The OC is striking as well.

I got my December issue of The Writer yesterday. Only two more issues before my March breakthrough column appears! I’m so excited! 🙂

Share your word counts and give us a one to two sentence description of your plot. (Hard, isn’t it?) I’ll post mine later.