To Al Gore

Raise your glass to Al Gore, inventer of the Internet, stopper of Global warming, for without him, this never would've happened.

Okay, so that's 16 of the awesomest writers within a 50-mile radius. If you're not following these guys, you so should be.

Standing, L-R: L.T. Elliot, Mary Campbell, Nichole Giles, Alaina Evans, Elana Johnson (that's me), Angie Lofthouse, Carolyn Vawdrey, Michelle Argyle, Suzette Saxton, Windy Aphayrath

Kneeling: Jenn Wilks, Tess Hilmo, Ali Cross, Natalie Whipple

This amazing moment came after the awards ceremony. I'm telling you, this party brought the biggest smile to my face. So thank you, Al Gore, for inventing the Interwebs so we could "meet" online and then meet in RL. (And for those who are mathematicians, there's only 14 of us in the picture. But Jaime Theler was there and so was Kim Webb Reid. They had to leave early though. And Jenn Johannson was supposed to come, as was Danyelle Leafty. Maybe next time!)

Which writerly friends have you met in real life? Who do you want to meet?

More pics, just for fun:

(Yes, that's me with two different flavors of Ben & Jerry's. De-lish.)

(Me and girl kidlet handing out some schweet awards during the ceremony.)

(Jaime and L.T. Two of my favorite people, evah!)

(The loverly Suzette and Windy.)

The Sith Lord

*cue music*

You know the kind. Darth Vader's kind.

Okay, so I went to a writing party on Friday. It was all kinds of amazing and awesome and uber-fun. And now, apparently, I'm the Sith Lord. I've been luring writers to the dark side for months now.

Who knew?

And just what is the dark side? Paranormal. Yeah, I luvz it. So I guess I've been "encouraging" my contemporary writerly friends that they should write paranormal.

And now I've decided to go contemporary. I can't remember who it was that said I was "enticing" the competition to my side just so I could run a coup on contemporary.

But I'll find out. Oh, yes. The Force is strong with me. I'll find out.

*/end music*

So the party was awesomesauce. We sat around and talked about what we write. So, dear friends, what do you write and why? What genres do you find yourself gravitating toward? What's easy? What's harder?

And do you think I'd look good in a hood? (lol!)

Stay Tuned...

Okay, so I can't keep it inside anymore.

*covers mouth*

Okay, yes I can.

(NO, my book hasn't sold. Don't go there.)

But I have some major exciting things happening right here on my blog in February. I can't spill everything (that's for newsletter subscribers), but here's a teaser:

Shelli Johannes Wells and I have teamed up. And boy, is that gonna be dangerous! We've got The Query Expert (Elana) planning a major World Domination Tactic with a team of agents (that's right -- plural!), a week of Marketing Gurus, and The Marketing Expert (Shelli) is offering a HUGE Prize from her agent, Alyssa Henkin (for unagented authors) and a Massive Marketing Prize (for agented/published writers).

Here's what you can do right now:
1. Follow my blog (little widget right over there -->).
2. Follow Shelli's blog (you'll have to be a follower of both of us to enter, so just do it now).
3. Subscribe to my newsletter (you'll get the scoop FIRST!).
4. Sit back and relax -- or polish up your MS/synop/query letter/combination of the aforementioned. *winkage*

So there's all of that. It's really going to be a cool time, so stay tuned!

As for the whole World Domination Tactic, well, that's still in the works. I am planning some posts on query letters, and I'd like them to be valuable and entertaining. I mean, that's why you come over here, right? Freak, I hope so.

So I'm wondering: What do you want to know about querying? What kind of information are you looking for? What can I help you understand better? About the letter itself, the process of writing the letter or about sending it out, all of it.

I answer a lot of questions in my ebook--which will be on sale during the WDT--but what do you wish you could get in one--hopefully entertaining--blog post--for free? (Sheesh, can I use another em-dash in that sentence? Beat that, bloggers!)

Inquiring minds...

Where I Spend My Time

When I open a new tab in Google Chrome, it brings up my most frequented places. When I got my new laptop, I had to "train" it. Luckily, it only took about a week to see where my priorities lay.

I give you Where I Spend My Online Time:

1. Facebook (I blame CafeWorld and FarmVille. You should too.)
2. Rallystorm (I'm long-winded. What can I say?)
3. Twitter (I like to eavesdrop.)
4. Blogger (I'm here five days a week, people.)
5. Pandora (2 accounts. 80 hours. The end.)
6. QueryTracker (This is like a three-peat. Blog. Forum. Success Stories.)
7. My own blog (Is that so wrong?)
8. Google (Hey, even I do a little research. A very little.)

I like to tell myself that I'm a supreme multi-tasker, and I'm juggling twitter and forums and blogging amidst my revisions, but it's all a lie. I have to get the tabs down to two (Pandora and gmail) before I even open Word.

What about you? Where do you spend your time online?

Holy Blazes...

I made a stark realization about myself last week. See, I did a post on The Unnameables, a fantastic book, and the agent who sold the book, Kate Schafer, quoted from my blog. What'd she quote?

"Holy blazes, the woman knows how to use words the right way."

I almost died.

Here's why: (OMGOSH, I'M DOING IT RIGHT NOW!)
I realized from that quote that the writing style and voice from my novel had bled into my blog post. And it's not the first time.

My ten-word Tuesday post contained the same style. As did that "Here's why:" up there.

*head desk*

Now that I'm aware of the problem, I realize I've been doing it for months. Whenever I'm writing, the style and voice creep into ALL my writing. This blog. My chats (sorry guys!!). My tweets. Facebook updates.

Holy blazes! (DANGITALL!)

See, my (OH. MY. HECK.) MC says "blazes" and "blazing" as a curse word. I find myself saying it out loud now. And, she starts sentences with "See," to explain things to the reader (OH FREAK. I DID IT IN THE SECOND SENTENCE OF THIS VERY POST!). And I use the writing style like Problem: the tattoo flowed over his face. with the colon and everything.

That's it. I can't write blog posts anymore.

Holy tornadoes, (ACK!) tell me you guys do this too! Does your character voice and writing style sneak into your other writing? Your freaking conversations??

**Note: When I was revising CI, most of my blog posts started with "Yeah," something characteristic of that novel. Shoot me. Shoot me now.

Light Bulb Moment

So yeah. I could go on and on about what led up to this convo, but I won't. Mostly because I have so many convos I can't keep them all straight. Or maybe those are just the voices in my head. *wink*

But basically, Katie Anderson and I were talking. And exciting things are happening for both of us.

Katie: Are you nervous?

Me: *hysterical laughing* *furiously typing* Beyond. I'm terrified of this, that, and the other (I won't bore you with the details, but I typed much more than this, trust me.)

Katie: It's almost as if success is more terrifying than failure.

TEN SECONDS LATER, in PG, UT: Light bulb moment.

She nailed it. Nailed it.

Failure I can do. I can handle. I've been there, done that. It leaves a bitter taste in your mouth and your stomach doing these weird flippy things. But I can deal.

Success? Not so much.

Well, okay, there was that one time I won those 50 Jazz tickets. And I did graduate from college. I have a good job. I've been married to the same man for 13 years.

Okay, okay. I've succeeded at some things too. Funnily enough, it leaves this weird taste in your mouth and your stomach doing these weird flippy things. I guess I'll have to learn to deal.

And no, I have no news. Just curbing those comments right now. :)

So tell me, have you had a light bulb moment recently? What was it about? What do you think of the success being terrifying thing?

And PS: You want to sign up for my newsletter. I have some very VERY exciting things planned for February and newsletter subscribers will get the low-down before everyone else. Way before. In-enough-time-to-prepare-before. Just sayin'. And that's all I'm sayin'. *winkage*

Ten Word Tuesday

Inspired by Nisa. Thanks, girl!

Ask yourself: Why NOT me?

Then: Go forth and conquer.

My Kung Foo Is Strong

Do you like the new digs? I've been wanting to change up the look of my blog and website for a while, but well, you know, my DH does all the decorating at my house. I wear men's jeans. And clothes from 2000 and late. 'Nuff said.

So imagine my surprise when the fabulous Lisa Amowitz (her plot map is ah-ma-zing) emailed and offered to make me a shiny new header. See, she is the wickedest awesomest graphic designer. And an amazing author, so follow her blog if you're not already.

Then came the whole template thing.

Oh. My. Holey. Swiss. Cheese.

What a nightmare! No wonder I haven't done it. Hours, people. It took hours. And this template had the comments at the top (something I dislike) and it took me half my life to figure out how to A) find the html code and B) where to move it so it would be at the bottom. But, dude, I persevered!

Something funny: my new template's name is New Moon. It came with fabulous pics of Bella and Edward and Jacob. Tee hee.

But, hey, this massive redesign project saved me from beginning revisions on the final third of my MS. Therefore, my kung foo is strong, and I'm ready to throw down a major can of nunchuckage on said MS.

How's your kung foo? Feeling good about life? Writing? Revisions? Blog makeovers?

Hiiii-yaaa!

Bad Poetry -- Just For You

Dear Bloggy Friends,

I've written songs for you
Comments galore
I spilled about my writing origins
And much, much more

Holy crap, I'm writing poetry
Something I swore I never did
See? That's how wicked amazing you guys are
I'll do whatever you bid

I love living the impossible
I love how you endure my rants
I love hearing your innermost thoughts
Hey, I even like your pants

Thanks for clicking over here
Thanks for being my fabulous friends
Thanks for leaving your comments
I hope this journey never ends

Elana

By the way, I've been having brainwave after brainwave for my newsletter. And at the risk of sounding snooty, I think it's gonna rawk the house! Sign up if you haven't yet!

Impossibilities

The best thing about writing is the fact that we can make the impossible possible.

For example, I was watching Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat the other day with my girl kidlet. She's sort of a freak for anything dancing and singing related. And I realized that I am too. I was all belting out these songs and stuff, and I got a little teary.

Sheesh. Now I'm crying at musicals!

Anyway, this is why. I would love to be on stage, singing and dancing and wearing all that stage makeup. Maybe. But I never will -- and my complete lack of dancing ability and my tone deafness are only two reasons why.

Becoming a Broadway performer is an impossibility.

But through writing, I can do anything!

Anything that doesn't require research, that is. *wink* (Hey, I'm nothing if not realistic.)

What about you guys? What can you do while writing that you would/could never do in real life?

Whatever (WiP) Wednesday

Today I'm just throwing my hands up and shouting, "Whatever!"

• To the millions of No Kiss posts I haven't read. Whatever!
• To the tens of millions of tweets I miss. Whatever!
• To the crops that are withering. The cheesecake going to waste. Okay, okay, that's not really happening. No matter what, I'm tending to my Facebook games. But I almost had you, right?
• To having a home-cooked meal. What. Ev. Er.
• To bathing. Whatever.
• To going to work. I mean, srsly? Do I even need to say it? (*whatever*)

Because, dude, I have other things to do. More important things. It's called rewriting an entire book. Ever heard of it?

• To going bald due to rewrites. Whatever.
• To Pandora, who still only allows 40 hours of listening. Don't they know that rewriting can only take place with a Glee song screaming in the background? What-ev.
• To the three red pens I've already run dry. That's right. THREE. Whatever, Bic. I think I got defective pens. Oh, wait. I am rewriting an entire book. On paper. By hand. Whatever.
• To things like "bedtimes" and "new year's resolutions." Whatever. When you're rewriting a book, you don't notice how the hours silently (well, not silently. There is Pandora.) slip by. You don't notice you've eaten an entire bag of Reese's peanut butter cups by yourself or drank the 2-Liter of ginger ale. I mean, srsly. Oops. I mean, whatever!

So there you go. What I'm working on. And pretty much how I feel about it right now. How are you doing? What are you working on? What do you need to shout, "Whatever!" at? Do it! I'll yell it with you.

Ready? 3...2...1...

Truthful Tuesday: It's Not All About You

No, really. It's not.

You know I love blogging. I love reading blogs. I like Facebook. I comment and like stuff with the best of them. I'm doing my best to tweet at least a few things every day. So I'm out there, doing my "author branding" thing and whatnot.

And something struck me the other week as I was doing my lunchly blog reading.

We all talk about ourselves on our blogs. It's what a blog is. But some people go on and on about how amazingly awesome they are.

*whispers The Truth* That kinda bugs me.

I want you to SHOW me how amazingly awesome you are by the content of your posts. The way you use words. Your personality. Your sincerity in comments. In Facebook posts. In tweets.

Show, don't tell.

Because I want to decide for myself how amazingly awesome you are. I hate being told. And you come off sounding kind of snooty (okay, more than kind of -- at least for me). And then I'm less likely to go to your blog again, because you've rubbed me the wrong way.

So, friends. Is there something to be said about humility? I mean, obviously we all think we have something valuable to say each day. Something valuable to write. Something we are brass enough to think agents and editors and the general masses will love. But does that mean we should get on our blogs and shout to the world how amazingly awesome we are?

I want my blog, my website, my work, my personality to shout that -- without words.

What about you? Thoughts on this?

Using The Right Words

Okay, so over the break I read five books. I tend to go in spurts in my reading because I have a hard time reading and working on my own writing. So when I find myself burned out beyond belief on revisions, I turn to books. Funny how I never feel "burned out" on writing, but I haven't written anything new for ages. But, well, that's another story for another day.

I really enjoyed the books I read. But there was one that absolutely captivated me.

The Unnameables by Ellen Booraem.

I highly recommend it to anyone who is a lover of words.

Because, holy blazes, the woman knows how to use the right words to tell the story.

Masterful.

And that's the kind of author I want to be. Not one that just has an amazing story (which The Unnameables does) or compelling characters (another check for Ms. Booraem), but one that when people read the book, they'll go, "Ah, this author knows how to use the right words to build the story."

Because that's how powerful words are. They're an author's tools.

I love books like The Unnameables because they're tutorials on how to use my tools the most effectively.

What do you look for when reading? Are you looking for ways to use the right words? How?

Oh! And I'm doing a monthly newsletter for 2010. I added a little linky thing in my sidebar, right below my profile. I'm going to be collecting the best blog posts, announcing contests, discussing hot topics in publishing and sharing news of my book (when I have some). So sign up, okay? Okay. I'm so excited for the new decade!

Winner!

And we're kicking off the new year with a winner!

The official Elana Johnson Know-It-All and winner of a $25 gift certificate to Amazon.com is...

Congrats Katie! I'll be emailing you. Happy New Year, everyone!

Red Tag Contest Is On!

Okay, today's the day! Fill out the form below to enter to win a $25 gift certificate from Amazon.com! This contest will close on Saturday, January 2 at midnight, MST. So those of you who partied last night (Happy 2010!) have plenty of time to sleep it off before answering (Scott - *wink*).

Good luck! And I can't wait to see the results! Winner of the title "Elana Johnson Know-It-All" and the $25 gift certificate will be announced on Sunday, January 3. Let me know if the questions were too hard! I tried to pick really easy ones. Easy, easy.

Happy New Year!