Chances are that by now your town has been swept away in Harry Potter mania. At my local Books-a-Million, the store is gearing for a massive Friday night party complete with costume contest, readings, door prizes and more. I’ve never been to a HP party, but since this is the last one, I might go.

I’m cautiously reading blogs and Websites in case the rumors are true that the ending has been leaked. I read somewhere that 1200 copies of the book were shipped this week and the shipping company is being sued. If that’s true, I don’t want to know! There will be no spoilers here until everyone has gotten a chance to read the book.

However, we can at least ponder the ending. So, today’s question: Do you think Harry will live or die? (Sorry, Em, I know this isn’t your fav topic!)

I think he’ll live. Share your HP theory! (I’m looking at you, Ella!) 🙂

Tomorrow is check in day! You can do it right here and share your current word count or new page total for Alison Kent’s challenge. I’ll update my stats tomorrow. I hope you’re still sweating with Sven and having fun! 🙂

So, share your stats!

I was at my library today and I stumbled upon Project Greenlight 2. I snatched up the DVD set and have watched 4 episodes today. I LOVE, LOVE the show. The season I’m watching now is from 2003 and for those who aren’t familiar with the show, it follows a screenwriter and a director from contest winner to finished film. The winning screenwriter has his/her film directed by the winning director.

My favorite part so far was watching the screenwriters pitch their films. Things I learned when pitching? 1. Don’t talk too fast. 2. Be prepared. 3. Have a backbone. 4. Prove yourself. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are co-producers of the show and I learned a lot from them as I listened to them dissect pitches. When the winning screenwriter was announced, she then was given notes to edit her film (like I’m doing with my novel) and I found the processes very similar.

It made my inner screenwriter perk up. 🙂

All right, we’re at mid-week and Sven is still commanding us to type and sweat! How can you say no to that face? How’s everyone doing? Let’s hear it! 🙂

So far, I’ve meet the 4-6 pages a day and am juggling edits with typing my YA draft. If I don’t type enough in one project, I make sure I do it in the other one.

I also took a magazine assignment to write an article about starting a garage band as a teen. If you know someone who has done this, please let me know. I’m interested in all types of bands. This is the first magazine assignment I’ve done in a while as I’ve stopped searching for assignments and have been letting editors assign them at will instead.

Thanks for all of your congrats about my teaching news and I’ll keep posting details as I get them.

Okay, so I talked last week about an announcement regarding writing (sort of) and now I can finally share the details. For six weeks during the fall, yours truly will be teaching an online writing class for Lamar University in Texas. I’m teaching “Writing for Teen Magazines” for the adult and distance learning department of the university. I wrote and submitted a syllabus and blurb for the course. The info will pop up on Lamar’s Website over the next couple of weeks and when it does, I’ll post the link here. The university’s Professional Writing Center boasts great classes and I’m thrilled to be involved. I’m capping enrollment at 20 students because I’ll be writing and editing during that time, but I welcome the chance to try something new and any way to connect with aspiring and professional writers sounds good to me.

So, that’s the news for today. 🙂 A big thanks to Jessy for orchestrating everything!

Looks like we’ve got a great response going in the check in session for Alison’s challenge. If you still want to check in or sign up, I believe Alison gave everyone until July 13. 🙂 It’s gonna be fun! Be sure to come by next Sun to share your word count.

On other topics, I wandered over to Novelists, Inc. and found their Website to be a great source of information and a group I plan to join in the future. But I found something better. This. The Ninc 2008 conference in NYC. I’ve read dozens of conference brochures, but this one has everything I’m looking for. Lectures about daytime and primetime writing (from Jill Hurst, a writer of The Guiding Light), YA writing, film and playwriting. P-E-R-F-E-C-T. The conference schedule isn’t up yet, but I’m going to be checking back often. The conference is in March and I can’t wait to get more information.

Is anyone a member of Ninc or attended one of their conferences? Or, what other writing conferences have you attended?

Okay, so if you’ve signed up for Alison Kent’s challenge (see previous post) this is where we can check in each Sunday. For today’s post, include the following:

1. Current manuscript word count
2. Goal word count for 70 days
3. Genre
4. Title
5. Your main character’s names

Next Sunday, check back here when we’ll tally up our week’s word count! 🙂 Let’s get this off to a strong start and here’s to finish novels in 70 sweaty days!

In today’s post, Diana Peterfreund brought up a fab challenge by author Alison Kent. Check out Alison’s Seventy Days of Sweat– The Writing Challenge. The goal? Write your book in 70 days!

I signed up and the challenge starts tomorrow! 🙂 I have a new YA that needs about 10k to be finished and I want to start a new MG. I’m still doing heavy editing, but when I’m taking a break on that I figured this would be a good way to keep my other projects moving.

If you sign up, let me know here and let’s do it together! We can keep each other on pace and crank up the motivation.

I’ll post my stats tomorrow and let’s do a weekly check in (maybe each Sunday) right here.

Well, I’ve been working on a little project over the past couple of days because of an offer I received and I should be able to share it with everyone next week! 🙂 It’s related to writing, in a way, but doesn’t have anything to do with my books. Curious? Check back next week for the announcement!

I’m knee-deep in editing and the blog may be a little quieter than usual, but it will still be updated at least 4 times a week.

Share your post-holiday plans for this weekend!

* Happy Fourth of July! *

I’m taking the day away from the computer (okay, with a little editing to be done) and am watching fireworks with the fam and am grilling tonight.

If you’re reading this blog today, share your holiday plans! 🙂