Sara Raasch's Blog, page 486

rainbowrowell:"There’s a knock on Pace’s door. "Churros!" he...

rainbowrowell:

"There’s a knock on Pace’s door. "Churros!" he exclaims with clear but measured excitement. He’d been denied them just 30 minutes earlier, but some were found, and Pace is a very happy man. Enough so to share."

#happybirthdayleepace

Lee Pace turns 35 today. Which means he’s getting too old to play Lincoln in “Attachments” movie that will never happen.

He is a beautiful beautiful man.

myyhonor-piper:just a quick doodle. can’t get enough of...

myyhonor-piper:

just a quick doodle. can’t get enough of zutara

Diversity in YA Novels - Building a Middle Eastern World

Diversity in YA Novels - Building a Middle Eastern World:

yagameoftomes:

Happy Monday, everyone! (Who am I kidding, right?)

Today on the Game of Tomes blog, I’d like to discuss the topic of diversity in young adult fiction, and, specifically, how to go about worldbuilding when you’re writing about a culture or a time period you’re unfamiliar with.

My book The Wrath and the Dawn

matereya:nymre:"Sometimes the feeling of what could’ve been...

matereya:

nymre:

"Sometimes the feeling of what could’ve been is stronger than what actually happened because the memory of perfection lasts longer. And even though we didn’t end up together, you’ll never change the fact that you changed my life forever" — Dante Basco

Late birthday present for Mati! 

OH MY GOD JFC WOMAN WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME??!?!?!

THIS IS - LIKE - THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GIFT I’VE EVER RECEIVED IN MY LIFE OMGOMGOMG I CAN’T EVEN BREATH AND UTTER A SINGLE WORD *HEAVY BREATHING*

F*CKING ZUTARA RIGHT IN THE FEELS, MY POOR SHIPPING HEART /SHOOTS SELF MULTIPLE TIMES BECAUSE PERFECTION

my roommates think i’ve gone nuts because i just screamed so loud and i think i made more cracks in the ceiling okay i’m done bye /shoots self again

I Was That Teenage Writer

I Was That Teenage Writer:

avajae:

the-lion-machine:

avajae:

I was the teenage writer with big dreams.

I was the weird thirteen-year-old sitting at her desk during free period, huddled over a piece of paper with a pencil and a story rolling through her fingers.

I was the fourteen-year-old smiling shyly as her mother proudly announced to anyone who would listen that her teenager had written a book and was going to be published one day.

I was the fifteen-year-old who secretly enjoyed those English writing assignments and whipped out that four page essay so that she could get back to writing her next book.

I was the sixteen-year-old pretending to take notes in math class while actually writing a passage for her novel.

I was the seventeen-year-old disappointed with “I like this” non-critiques from Creative Writing class and anxiously dreaming all day about those query letters she sent out the night before.

I was the eighteen-year-old starting to realize that she might not be a published teenage writer after all, that she might not even get an agent as a teenager, that maybe her writing wasn’t as good as she thought it was.

I was the nineteen-year-old coming to terms with the fact that she may very well leave her teenage years with nothing to show for it except for many trunked manuscripts and a pile of rejection letters.

Here’s what I wasn’t as a teenager:

I wasn’t published.

I wasn’t agented.

I wasn’t a prodigy.

I wasn’t the next Christopher Paolini.

But now, looking back on those years, I’m glad I wasn’t any of those things. Because yes, I was a decently good writer for my age, and yes, I learned a lot from writing all of those books, and yes, it hurt to come to realize that I was going to have to give up my dream of being a published teenage writer. But at the end of it all, I was focused. I knew how to handle rejection (for the most part), I knew the value of patience (even if I struggled to maintain it), and I knew that time was on my side after all—that getting published wasn’t a race and I didn’t regret a second that I spent focused on my dream as a teenager.

Because it may have taken me a long time to come to terms with everything, but in the end, I know I’m a better writer for it.

I guess I just want to say this: to all you teenage writers out there, I know it’s tough. I know it sucks to give up so much to make your writing dream happen, and realize it might not happen in the time frame you were hoping for, even despite the sacrifices. I know it sucks to start writing young and have all your loved ones tell you how you’re going to be so successful because look how young you are and you wrote a book (or many books!), and meanwhile the clock is ticking and nothing seems to be happening and you start to wonder if maybe everyone’s just humoring you and you’re not that good after all.

I want to say that for those of you who are eighteen or nineteen or reaching that point of I may not be a published teenage writer after all, it’s ok. It’s more than ok. You’re not a failure for not getting published or agented as a teenager. You are amazing and talented and so very wonderful and I salute you. I salute you for hunkering down and chasing your dream while the rest of your friends goof off in class. I salute you for quietly taking rejection after rejection and continuing to write despite the pain. I salute you for not rushing to self-publish and taking your time to get your writing right, to really hone your craft.

What you’re doing isn’t easy. And if I’m being honest, it doesn’t really get easier. But it does get better. You’ll get better. Your writing will get better and you’ll be so glad for those manuscripts you had to put away and those rejections that branded your soul.

I guess I just want to say don’t give up if you don’t make your dream come true before you turn twenty. You’ve got your whole life ahead of you and as a bonus, you started on that path nice and early, which is pretty darn cool if you ask me.

Hang in there, pal. Everything is going to be ok.

Though I was published as a teenager (in a tiny, tiny Tolkien fandom zine with print circulation, and no, you may not read it because it’s gone forever) I never made my paying sale as a teen. I lived and breathed the writing dream with other friends (hi dreamstobecome !) who co-wrote with me, and we read each other’s stories and we learned taste and how to critique and how to be good readers together. I know it’s come in handy and it’s paid off — because my friends who were rabid teen writers are writing books now, and getting stories published, and doing it. I’m doing it — reading for a slush magazine, sending my work out into the ether, writing my novels (I’ve been published a couple times but not for fiction. I’m changing that) and always looking to put my stories out into the world. Writing (fandom and original) has brought the best people into my life. Without writing I wouldn’t have ever met the love of my life and some of my dearest and oldest friends.

Don’t ever, ever give up on stories. The work you’re doing now pays off. You’re putting in your 10,000 hours of craft, you’re honing your sense of taste, and learning how to storytell, and how to tell stories that matter to you. You’re learning how to be a discerning reader and how to dream passionately. Whether you’re learning on fanfiction with the promise to write your original story someday, or writing original fiction now — doesn’t matter. If you dream in narrative you’re among good company. Keep working. Keep writing. Keep dreaming up stories as you fall asleep at night and keep writing them in the margins of your notebooks and talking to your characters as you walk. Keep working. This is work. This is your apprenticeship. Everybody must put this work in — do it now. Do not stop working. Publication is just one of many kinds of accomplishments that can come with being a writer, but there are many others and you should relish them all — ability to tell a good story, ability to keep yourself entertained for hours, the ability to make people care about the worlds and people who live inside you. The ability to recognize you and others can contain vast multitudes not visible from the outside and to learn that from the least likely people sometimes come the most fascinating stories. Empathy and compassion and understanding of people different from you. Imagination that will help you solve problems both in your plots and in real life. You should be fiercely proud of yourself for all the things you are achieving.

When I am in a position in this field where I am ready to pay back the community that has nurtured and loved me when I was a weird kid writing Arthurian slash in the back of church, that taught me to love stories by telling stories with me and to me, it is to you, young writers who are doing the work, that I will be looking for. People who’ve put the work in to learn taste and style but maybe haven’t mastered technique. People with brand new stories burning them up inside that need help coming out into the world. Someday after that, you’re going to be my peers, we’re going to be reading each other’s stories in magazines and competing for spots in magazines and on editor’s desks — it will be an honor to share the field with you.

Keep writing, teen writers. Whether or not you become famous for being a teen writer, you are, first and foremost, a writer, and that never, ever stops being true as long as there are stories inside you that you are trying to tell.

Love this response, especially that last paragraph. Yes to the yes. 

This made me teary. So much YES TO ALL.

Looking at all the people who have already gotten published

jodimeadows:

itsonlythefirstdraft:

…and having to remind myself:

Good reminder for every step of the process. A rising tide makes all the boats float.

Amen.

nerfherdersftw:brokenbutbright:dreamsofamadgirl:brokenbutbright:Feminism is like the red...

nerfherdersftw:

brokenbutbright:

dreamsofamadgirl:

brokenbutbright:

Feminism is like the red pill in the Matrix.

Suddenly you’re watching everyone walk around in this delusion and reality is terrifying.

There’s a reason this exists:

(courtesy Sinfest)

HOLY SHIT I HAD NO IDEA THIS GEM EXISTED.

THIS IS SO.. WOW. I CANT

This is 1000000% accurate.

Wanna win an ARC of SNOW LIKE ASHES??

The Spring Join the Blizzard Contest is happening NOW! And this ARC is extra special. Signed, annotated, ALL YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE.

Enter now!

Join the Blizzard: SNOW LIKE ASHES ARC Giveaway!

WINTERIANS!!

Today is the first season change of 2014, where we at long last cast off the icy blanket of winter in favor of the evil glower of spring.

Oh, is spring only evil in my little world? WANT TO FINALLY FIND OUT WHY??

For this first Join the Blizzard contest for 2014 (if you’re just tuning in, click the link to find out more about the Join the Blizzard contests), I have something EPIC to give away. Like, the-moment-you’ve-all-been-waiting-for EPIC: an ARC of SNOW LIKE ASHES.

But you know me. That’s special, but not nearly special enough to warrant a Join the Blizzard prize. So, let’s up it a bit, shall we?

A signed ARC of SNOW LIKE ASHES?

Eh, better, but not quite enough.

A signed AND annotated ARC of SNOW LIKE ASHES plus your piece of the SLA blizzard PLUS a vial of Instant Snow so you can create your own Winter Kingdom PLUS CHOCOLATE?

There we go.

I’ll be giving away other signed ARCs of SLA over the coming months, but I’ll only be giving away TWO annotated ARCs full of behind-the-book goodness and sekrit details (one for this giveaway, and one for the Summer Join the Blizzard giveaway in June), so trust me, you do NOT want to pass this up!

This Join the Blizzard contest will run from March 20-April 2, with the winner announced April 3. Open Internationally. 

Have at it, Winterians!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Cover Love: SERAPHINA

Cover Love: SERAPHINA:

yagameoftomes:

Happy Thursday! Kendall here, and I am tickled to get to talk about one of my favorite subjects ever: jaw-droppingly GORGEOUS book covers!

I am something of a cover design fiend, thanks mostly to my graphic designer brother, who instilled in me early and often an appreciation for fine lines,…