Theresa Paolo's Blog, page 13

One. More. Day.

A Saturday Quote

(Never) Again Bloghop

There are eight days left until the release of (Never) Again. EIGHT! I'm not freaking out. I swear. Okay maybe a little. But with the freakout comes the excitement, the fun stuff, this bloghop.







Liz, the main character of (Never) Again got her heart broken and refused to ever open it up to anyone again. We all know how that goes though. How many times have you swore off something only to step right back into it? So for this bloghop I want to know what it is you swore you would never do again and then wound up doing. It could be anything. Dating a guy, drinking, going on the roller coaster that made you vomit, anything.



Since I'm giving such short notice, you can post any day between October 15-17th. Sign up below and at the end of the hop I will randomly select a few winners.



The prizes:



First prize: $20 Amazon gift card

Second prize: A signed copy of Cora Carmack's Faking It

Third prize: A copy of (Never) Again (Of course I have to give a way a copy of my book!) 

A Saturday Quote

Happy weekend, everyone! Look out for my bloghop post in the next couple of days.

How to Date A Nerd Bloghop!

Today is the last day of the How to Date A Nerd bloghop and I'm ready to share my nerdiness.



My boyfriend likes to call me a nerd when I randomly hold my hand up and expect him to high five me. But that's nowhere near how nerdy I actually am.



My obsession with Twilight definitely puts me up on the scale. I own the books, the movies, the board game, the Wii game, a blanket and I have an Edward action figure. Let's not talk about how many times I watched the first movie, especially since it was a bootleg and not the best copy. Or about how many fan made Youtube videos I watched and how many hours I wasted in the process. I still get made fun of for it to this day even though the obsession has pretty much run its course.



But the thing that takes me to the top of the nerd ladder...



Growing up I had one idol. I was obsessed with him. I had the doll, the board game, the t-shirt, I even wrote to him and got his autograph-twice- since the first time I got it in the mail it was damaged, so of course I wrote him back asking for another which he sent. That only made my obsession skyrocket.



So who is this you wonder. Who could I possibly obsess over so much it brings me to the top of the nerd ladder. Any guesses???



Any???



No...



Okay.



It's time to confess.



My obsession. My idol.



Open the door Uncle Jesse! 











So there it is. Steve Urkel was my idol. 

It's Nerd Day!

Let your inner nerd free. It is the official release day for Cassie Mae's newest How to Date A Nerd! I absolutely love this book! It's the first book I ever read of Cassie's. From the minute I finished it, I knew I had to find a way to be her friend, so I could read all of her awesomeness before everyone else. Somehow I pulled it off ;)



Seriously though, this book is AMAZING! A must read! See below for all the deets and stop back tomorrow when I participate in the Nerd bloghop and reveal my own nerdiness!





Zoe has a great pair of
legs, perky boobs, and wears exactly what she needs to show it all off.
She works hard for the easy sleazy ‘you only wish you were me’
reputation, burying who she really is—an all-out nerd.

The only
time Zoe gets to be herself is when she hides under her comforter to
read X-Men comics, sending jealousy stabs at everyone who attends
Comic-Con. Keeping up her popular rep is too important, and she’s so
damn insecure to care about the consequences. But when Zoe’s sister
takes her car for a ‘crash and burn into a tree’ joyride, her parents
get her a replacement. A manual. Something she doesn’t know how to
operate, but her next door neighbor Zak sure as heck does.

Zak’s a
geek to the core, shunned by everyone in school for playing Dungeons
and Dragons at lunch and wearing “Use the Force” t-shirts. And Zoe’s got
it bad for the boy. Only Zak doesn’t want Popular Zoe. He wants Geek
Zoe.

She has to shove her insecurities and the fear of dropping a
few rungs on the social ladder aside to prove to Zak who she really is
and who she wants to be… if she can figure it out herself.



You can buy it on Amazon

Add it to your Goodreads list!

A Saturday Quote

I interupt a Saturday Quote for...

(Never) Again comes out in 30 days! And to celebrate I have another teaser! 

Teaser!

I released a teaser on Facebook last night for (Never) Again, but in case you missed it:

Insecurities

 
I think insecurity and writing go hand in hand. No matter what you can't escape that nagging feeling that you will not succeed and everyone will hate your story that you've poured your heart and soul into. I want to say it gets better when you achieve a few successes. It doesn't.



When I first started writing I thought I was amazing. I mean, I wrote an entire book with characters that were awesome. Now I know I didn't know how to use commas (still don't), thoughts jumped from one character to the next and not everything in the story was for the bigger picture. And that's only the beginning of all the mistakes. But I didn't know any better. Rejection after rejection, I realized I had a lot to learn.



I read all sorts of books. Different genres, books on writing, critiqued more and read every agent blog/tweet I could find. I wrote more and revised even more. 



After I signed with my agent I felt validated like I really could write something other people would enjoy. That feeling was short lived. It came back when I signed with my publisher but again short lived.



Now ARC's of my book have gone out and while it is an exciting moment, I feel like I'm going to vomit most of the time. I've always dreamed of writing a book people would love. A book where the characters were relatable. A book people wanted to quote and make those cute pictures you find on Pinterest. But what if everyone hates it?



It's true it only takes one yes in this business, but what does that one yes matter if no one else loves it? It's hard to think about. Hard to come to the realization that there will be people who just don't like your book. I've read plenty of books I didn't connect with or had to force myself to finish. Everyone has different tastes as they should. The world would be a pretty boring place if we all liked the same things. And while I understand that, and appreciate all the different views, I'm still scared of failure.



Back when I wrote my first book I was so naive, but you know what, I had confidence. Somewhere on this journey I lost it. I just wonder if I'll ever find it again.



Have you lost your confidence? What scares you most in this crazy writing world?