Leap into Books Giveaway Hop

From February 29th through March 5th, I'm participating in the Leap into Books Giveaway Hop hosted by I Am A Reader, Not A Writer and Jinky is Reading. I'll be giving away a $15 Starbucks Gift Card.

Details:
1 $15 Starbucks Gift Card to the winner of the Giveaway Open to US only.
Drawing for the Giveaway will be held on 
March 5, 2012, and the winner will be announced on 
March 6, 2012. To be eligible to enter the Giveaway, you must "Follow" this site then enter with this FORM. One entry per person please. Follow me on Twitter and/or Like me on Facebook for an extra chances to win. Leave a comment and your URL and we'll follow you back!

Here's a list of all the stops on the Hop!

Who? Me?

I’ve been writing my entire life. Okay, fine, since I could actually hold a pencil. (As I’m writing this post, I have the realization that, with the paperless movement, future generations may not know what a pencil is. Hm. Good thing there's Google.) Back to the point. I wrote poems, short stories and the occasional Haiku.

I’d always wanted to write a novel. But, like most people, I never had the time. I kept telling myself…someday. Well, someday finally arrived when I quit a job that was eating away hours of my time each day, the commute was grueling. On a particularly bad day, I sat in traffic for over three hours ONE WAY.

That was enough for me. (Side note: I do not recommend quitting your day-job to become a writer. The road is hard and chock-full of potholes.) I began searching for a new job, finally landing a wonderful one—3 years ago—as a city employee. (Now my commute is only fifteen minutes. Hooray!) In the meantime, I started writing that novel. I had no idea what I was doing, but I wrote. Every. Day. It quickly became an obsession. If I wasn’t staring at the computer screen, well then, I just wasn’t living. I had to write. Yearned to write.

The characters in my head wouldn’t shut up. And let’s face it, I didn’t want them to. I craved the sweet whisper of their ramblings. Some might think this is a bit multiple-personality disorder, but writers know: there’s only a problem if the voices STOP talking. So I wrote like a dark fever had consumed me. When I finished, I had a story. Not exactly a very good one, mind you. But I had the satisfaction of completing what I’d set out to do…write that book. (I am currently writing my fourth complete novel.)

Granted that first story I wrote may never see the light of day. Frankly, I’m okay with that. It was a stepping-stone. A way to unleash the voices in my head. I’ve learned so much since that book, joining writers' groups, beta reading and researching the heck outta the industry. Through these posts I will share my nuggets of wisdom. Glean from them what you will.

If you walk away with only one thing, let it be this: Finish. The. Book.

You can do it! The voices will help. *winks*

Write now is your moment…seize the page!

To blog, or not to blog, that is the post...

Blogging? Hm. Gotta be honest. I’d never really thought much about it. Until *inserts dramatic pause here* I read other bloggers. And wow, they were excellent! So with the aspiration of getting my words read (GOAL), I don’t test the waters. I jump right in. Brrr. It’s cold!

In the words of Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler, “Dream On,” dream until your dreams come true. Or for the purposes of this post, dream until your readers follow (MOTIVATION). Then keep blogging.

Okay, if you haven’t figured it out yet, I am random. I also enjoy the occasional pun. Of course, if you Follow me on Twitter you already know this. And frankly, I’m having a little trouble filling up all this white space (CONFLICT). I mean, Twitter is 140 characters or less. Yeah, so this post is kind of like a tweet on steroids. Anywho, I digress. *steers self back to the point*

Hello. My name is Karen. I’m a writer. I’m a soon-to-be published writer. Super pumped about that. My stories are all about teens in love and how they deal with the dark crap in their lives…fate be damned. Yes, paranormal creatures sometimes run rampant through the pages of my manuscripts. Witches, vampires, reapers and even demon-slaying unicorns. Check.

I’m also a reader. The best way for a writer to learn to write, besides actually writing, is to read. Devour everything you can get your hands on. Read inside your genre and out. Anything. Since you’re reading this post, you probably already know that. Good! I like preaching to the choir. (Mwahaha) Don’t mind me, sometimes I evil-villain laugh at inappropriate times.

Ps. Like how I ever so subtly weaved in GMC?

Brought to you by…me.