Elana Johnson's Blog, page 73

Odds and Yeah, Odds

Okay, so I decided that maybe I should let you know if you won Paranormalcy earlier than September 10, then you can buy it if you don't win it. So I'll draw the winner on Monday night and announce in Tuesday's post, okay? Okay. You can still enter by clicking here.



I don't really have anything interesting to say today. I'm Mockingjay-ed out and I've taught the same lesson at school, like, 23 times, and my brain is uber-taxed to try to come up with something besides muhnnnhumm.



So today, I o...

PARANORMALCY Giveaway

Okay, first off, I know I've been throwing a new book at you every week. Admit it, you like it. Anyway, today's book is PARANORMALCY by Kiersten White. It comes out on Tuesday next, so make sure you pre-order it or go out and buy it. You so won't be sorry.



But to sweeten the deal this time, I'm going to be giving away a copy. Dear Kiersten is coming to Salt Lake in early September (the 11th), and I'm going to her signing!! You can't see how my hands are shaking with excitement right now...

Avoiding Annoyances

Okay, so everyone has things that annoy them. I do, trust me. A lot of things. For one, I can't stand it when people make fun of me for saying "front forward." I know it's wrong, okay? I just don't care!



So annoying.



But I've come up with a few tips that will hopefully save you some annoyance points. Then you can use them up on your kids and send them to bed early. *wink*



1. Work. Work is annoying. It gets in the way of what I want to do = write. I can't read blogs, I can't email or chat i...

Truthful Tuesday Gets Personal

Okay, I'm going to admit something scary and wildly personal and something I hope I've been keeping deep inside (except from my CP's and others insane enough to encourage an email relationship with me).



But who am I kidding? You guys can see into my head, right?



Are you ready, though?



Okay, so I got my copy edits, and holy cow, you guys. It's the first time EVER that my book actually feels like a book. And it's still printed on 8 1/2 x 11 sheets of paper. But dude, it has all this writing ...

Motivational Monday

This summer, my fabu crit partner, Sara, spent a bunch of time in London researching Winston Churchill. (Yeah, your summer just got worse, didn't it? Don't worry, mine too.) She brought us (the crit groupies) a bunch of stuff from England that we totally don't deserve. This postcard was one such gift, and one of the most inspiring things I've read in a long time.



I think I'll let it speak for itself.





But go check out what my CP's have to say about this motto.

Jenn Wilks

Ali Cross

Things I Care About

I've been putting this post off for a couple of weeks now. Well, not this post exactly, but what this post used to be titled. I changed it and will probably just ramble today. But you know you like that, so whatever, whatever.



Today, I'm bringing you sort of a different post than I normally do. I don't know why, but it's the first day of school today (*SOBS*) and I'm actually at work for 8.5 hours today. I might die. If you don't see me on twitter or facebook later, send in the paramedics...

Bookanistas -- The Eternal Ones by Kirsten Miller

This week for Bookanistas, I'm recommending THE ETERNAL ONES by Kirsten Miller. The concept of having a soul mate that spans centuries isn't uncommon (I've read a couple of books like this just this year alone).



But this book is. The way it's done shows a true storyteller. Let's break it down.



1. Characters. Haven is a small-town girl who's spirit is yearning to find her soul mate, Ethan. She doesn't remember anything, but she knows she's inexplicably drawn to him. She's got spunk and a...

Things We Don't Speak Of

Oooh, secrets today, my pretties.



Admit, you're still here because you think I'm gonna go all word vomit and spill a bunch of stuff you're dying to know. I don't know what that would be since pretty much everything about myself is already out there.



But here goes:



1. Yes, my title's been changed. I l-o-v-e it! My young adult dystopian novel is now called POSSESSION and is still slated to come out next summer. I *think* I've gone through to all the sites that I maintain and have changed...

Loyalty

Those of you who saw into my notebook of secrets knew I was going to blog about this this week. The problem is, I can't remember what I was going to say, exactly. I'm going to blame it on my severe case of Outline Brain.. (BTW, I thank all of you who blogged about this or offered advice. Since that post, I have written a COMPLETE OUTLINE and half of another. Too bad that's only halfway through what I need to accomplish.)



But I wanted to talk about loyalty. I'm a very loyal person by nature. ...

Dream Big, Work Hard

I know, I know. Surely you tire of hearing about WriteOnCon. But I just want to use it to illustrate a point today.



We've received many emails thanking us for the hard work we did on WOC, and how amazing it was. I want to share how it started.



A Big Dream by Casey McCormick



One day a blogger/author/mom/student/all-around-awesome-person is reading blogs. She reads one and leaves a comment, just like she does on lots of other blogs everyday.



The blog author where Casey left the comment...