The Lucky 7 Game and this week's LAST RITE giveaway.

The lovely Kody Keplinger has passed along a challenge. The Lucky 7 Game is making it's way around writerly circles. Apparently, the deal is that if an author is tagged, we're supposed to:

1. Go to the seventh or seventy-seventh page of our WIP.
2. Count down seven lines.
3. Copy the seven sentences that follow and post them.
4. Tag seven other authors.

Kody is a cheater and picked something from her soon to be released, A Midsummers Nightmare, *jabs Kody* but I'll do it right. ;p

I actually have three works-in-progress, two very hot YAs and a MG, so I chose the one I've been picking at most lately. This is from page 77 of one of the YAs. It's a contemporary with speculative elements. This is from my female MC, Val's, POV.

As set up, Val is on her way with her best friend, Persephone, to her first date with a boy who's totally swept her off her feet. But, also along are Persephone's boyfriend, Billy, and his friends, Scott and Wyatt, the later of whom Val sort of crushed on freshman year until she found out he was a total jerk. So, here goes.

“So…I’m not sure what happened with us last year,” Wyatt said, sidling closer, his arm brushing mine as we walked. “I thought we had…you know…some kind of connection.”

“Yeah? Really? I don’t remember that,” I said.

“Well…” he waved his arm toward the rest of the group, who were half a block ahead of us, “with Billy and Persephone dating I guess we’ll be spending the summer together.”

            I grunted, unable to find any words other than, just shoot me now.

And I'm passing along the challenge to my good writerly friends:
1. Kendare Blake
2. Leah Clifford
3. Andrea Cremer
4. Julie Cross
5. Kristin Halbrook
6. Mary Lindsey
7. Elizabeth Norris

Lots of you have already won signed ARCs of LAST RITE and other signed books by John Green, Beth Revis, Stacy Jay and more over the last few weeks. This is your chance to enter for this week's signed copy of LAST RITE! Because I love you, I'll throw in another signed book. Let's see...something fabulous... Got it. In addition to LAST RITE, one lucky winner will also receive a signed copy of Jessica Spotswood's BORN WICKED. And, as always, a runner up will receive a signed copy of ORIGINAL SIN.

All you have to do to enter is tell me if you've read any books by the authors listed above (including Kody). Remember that entries do not carry over from week to week, so your name needs to appear in the comments below to enter for this giveaway. You must be 13 or older to enter. Extra entries can be accumulated as follows:
Follow this blog: +1
Follow me on Twitter (@LisaDez): +1
Tweet or Facebook a link to this contest: +1
"Like" the Personal Demons Books Facebook page +1

Add up your points in your comment, please, because my math sucks. Also, leave me a way to contact you if you WIN! Contest closes Friday April 6th at 12 noon, PDT. Winners will be chosen by the randomizer and posted here that afternoon. There will be a new contest for signed copies of Last Rite and other signed books (think Holly Black, Veronica Rossi, Marie Lu) every Monday between now and May 7th, so don't forget to check back every Monday to enter!
Good luck!! :p

What's in a word count? (aka: My beast has taken on a life of its own!)

I've always found the revision process interesting. It's when you get other people's feedback that you find out you didn't write the book you thought you did. This is where you pick up on where characters need to be more fleshed out or plot points need to be clarified so it turns into the masterpiece you were sure it was.

I have some amazing readers, the most thorough of which is my truly fabulous agent. I'm on my second round of revisions for her on my Too Hot For YA WIP. But the thing is, the first time I sent it to her, it was 76K words. Based on her notes, I revised and it grew to 90K. In this second round, I just passed 97K and it feels like the manuscript (not the story) is starting to take on a life of its own. (The story has always had a life of its own.) At this point, I'm pretty sure I'll hit 100K before I'm done.

Manuscript length is a hotly debated topic, but the truth is there's no "right" word count. But the thing is, whether your manuscript is 50K or 150K, each word has to count. Padding word counts is something I hear people talk about, but I don't understand it. If anything, I'd think as an author, we'd want to cut word counts. If I can tell the same story in less words while preserving the nuances of setting, emotion and turmoil, why would I want to tell it in more?

So, my last pass before I send this back to my truly fabulous agent and my amazing critique partner will be to cull out anything that's not essential to character development or plot progression.

I'm curious. Have there been books you read where you thought they were either too short or too long? Without naming names (unless you want to) why were you left with that impression?

My too hot for YA WIP

I have been Tweeting a lot recently about my WIP using hashtags such as #toohotforYA and #sexsexsex and #yummy. Today I'm giving you a peak at my YA WIP.

Here is my 18 year-old protag:

And here is his song. (The Youtube video is linked because the amazing artist who recorded it has asked that it not be embedded.)

With any luck, someday you might get to read him =)

What are y'all working on?