Too my friends…

I’m back from LDStorymakers! BEST CONFERENCE EVER! I learned so much. But I think the best part for me was meeting so many blog friends that I LOVE! So here is a little shout out to each of you. (I stole the pics from Leigh. I suck at taking pictures)

Emily King—Such a cute pregnant girl! You’re so sweet and positive, just like I thought you would be :) I love you girl.

LeighCovington (Abby)—Oh my gosh, can we just be neighbors and you can make me laugh every day? Think of all the plot problems we could work out.

I know I look like a drunken weirdo. 

Deana Barnhart—Such a darling accent! And you are just as sweet in person as you are online.


David Powers King—You’re smart, funny, and surprisingly soft spoken. Rock that full request!

Erin Summerhill—You’re magic! I’m excited to see who you land an agent for this time. And you are by far my FAVORITE creepy photographer!

Leslie Pugh—I loved meeting you :) So much fun!

Jessie Humphries—Your energy is contagious. And your self-deprecating humor kills me :) You’re so not a B-word!

Emily, David, Jessie, Erin, Leslie

Peggy Eddleman—Your smarts and success intimidate me a little, but in person you are so kind. I love that.

Chantel Sedgwick—Another cute pregnant mama! And I don’t believe for a second that you are shy :)

Katie Dodge—Gorgeous in real life. Seriously :)

Ruth Josse—I love your peaceful demeanor. I’m so serious about the arranged marriage :)

Melanie Fowler—I love your spunky spirit. It makes me smile.

Front Row: Jeigh, Chantele, Katie, Ruth, Leigh, Me. Back Row: Tasha, David, Jessie, Mel

Jeigh Meredith—I can’t get over how young you look. Do you get sick of hearing that?

Brenda Sills—You are so cute in person and you totally rock hats :)

Chad Morris—Yay for your secret! Will you announce it soon so I can celebrate publicly?

ShellyMorris (Downtown Shelly Brown)—You’re so cute. I could fit you in my pocket, but I think you would wiggle out!

Donna Weaver—I have my fingers crossed for you. Can’t wait to hold your book in my hands.

Brittany Larsen—Get me those pages! Augh! I’m so excited for you.

Tasha Seegmiller—I’m not going to comment on how tall you are :) Just on how freaking talented you are—contest runner up!

Robin Weeks—Your laugh is contagious. Keep querying! I love the concept of your book!

Illima Todd—I love your imagination. I hope you rock your full request too :)

Shallee McArthur—You’re too cute pregnant also! It isn’t fair :) I loved your smile.

Amber Argyle—I can’t wait to read your book!!! I’m ready to be blown away.

Kim Karras—I was so excited to meet you and I’m serious about looking at your book, so get those last two chapters done.

Jen Bennett—How did I miss you until the last minute? My loss.

JoLynne Lyon—We sat across from each other at dinner and you never said what a weirdo I was for not remembering you. Congrats on your win :)

Cassie Cook—Now Cass wasn’t at Storymakers, but we had dinner Saturday night. Jealous? I know you are. Cassie is hilarious in person. We laughed for 3 hours. Laughed until I had a headache.

Did I miss someone? Gosh I hope not. I just wanted to say thanks to all of you for giving me hugs and being  sweet to me. I can’t wait until next year :)

-Angie

Duck…Duck…Duck…GOOSE!

I always sucked at that game.

Thanks to Laura Josephson for bonking me on the head. These are fun questions so I will play along. That means, no Crafting Corner today (which is good because I didn’t learn anything this past week :)

The Tag rules:
1. You must post the rules!
2. Answer the questions and then create eleven new questions to ask the people you’ve tagged.
3. Tag eleven seven (because it's a magical number) people and link to them.
4. Let them know you’ve tagged them.

Laura’s Questions to me—

1. If the planet was being evacuated and you could only bring three things with you, what would they be?  Do I have to pick my three kids? No? They all made it to safety. Okay then—photos of my family, oil paintings done by my friend, and chocolate (just in case they don’t have chocolate in space.)
2. What's your favorite kind of cheese? I’m kind of boring when it comes to cheese—just plain cheddar for me.
3. Do you fold or crumple your toilet paper? Fold of course. You get more coverage that way :)
4. In what position do you sleep? On my side. I think it’s just habitual from being pregnant.
5. How many times a week on average do you stub your toe? I never stub my toes. I can’t even remember the last time. But I do seem to get a lot of paper cuts :)
6. Fire or ice and why did you choose that one? To die by? Fire—it seems faster.
7. Have you ever milked a cow? Ugh, NO! But I have feed sheep.
8. Are you a cat or dog or monkey person? Cats, because they need no interaction with me to be happy. (I’m not really an animal person)
9. What would you do if you were on a planet made entirely of water? Swim, I guess. What else is there to do?
10. If you were an animal what would you want to be and why? A bird. I think I would like to fly.
11. What's one thing you do when no one's looking? Do you really think I’m going to answer that? Yes? I’m perfectly proper even when no one is around :) But I do tend to sing REALLY LOUDLY when I’m alone. 

There you have it. Now, I need to tag seven of you…

Angela Brown

Ruth Josse @ Ruth + Writing

Rachel Mary Bean @ Writing on the Wall

Melissa Sarno @ This Too..

Kyra Lennon @ Write Here. Write Now

Meredith @ Fairy Tales and Cappuccinos

Jenny Morris @ Jenny’s Imaginary World

Now to the questions for all of you… 

1. Do you write your books out long hand with paper and pen or typed on a computer?
2. If you had to live your life without one of these which would you pick—Underwear or Shoes? Why?
3. Where is the best place to vacation?
4. What would the world be better without?
5. If you could live in one fairy tale, which one would you pick?
6. What is your strength as a writer?
7. Night Owl or Early Bird?
8. Favorite cosmetic product?
9. If you could be friends with one published author who would you pick?
10. Hollywood star you look most like?
11. What is one thing you miss about your childhood? 

Okay everybody, have fun with this. And if you’ve already been tagged or don’t want to play along no problems.

-Angie

Won't You Be My Neighbor? - Jolene Perry

You guys are really lucky because today we have the uber talented Jolene Perry! And uber talented is way more talented then very talented. 

Angie: Jo, do you have on your Mr. Rogers sweater? Are you ready for some questions?

Jolene: To be totally honest and probably somewhere WAY into TMI land - I'm still in bed and wearing a t-shirt I will probably slide a bra under and wear that today.

I DO, however, have a Mr. Rogers sweater (black and blue stripes today - a mens small) that I totally plan on sliding over my slept-in t-shirt. (Helps cover up the "sleep wrinkles")

I know, I know. I'm high class.

Angie: Oh, that is high class. I'm dressed in real clothes today, but they may or may not be exactly what I wore yesterday. The world will never know :)

Jolene: My jeans will def be the ones I wore yesterday. I have a thing with over-priced jeans, which means that I usually only have two or three pairs at a time . . .

Hatcher's Pass

Angie: Nice! Now, I don't know if everyone knows this but you live in Alaska! I'm a sucker for gorgeous settings. Does living someone so beautiful ever influence your writing?

Jolene: It totally does, and it provides a nice backdrop, too :D

(Kelley Vitollo and I are working on a collab that takes place up here right now)

I live near Hatcher's Pass (worth a google image search) and have a fab view of the mountains from all the windows on the back of our house. Also, yesterday I was in my chair against the window when a moose walked like 5 feet away. Very cool.

Angie: That is cool. I'm totally jealous!!!

Okay, here is something I've always wanted to know. You churn out stories faster than anyone I know (Jolene can do 50k a month in the blink of an eye :). So two questions--where do you get your ideas, and when do you find time to write?

Jolene: My ideas come from EVERYWHERE. I honestly have a harder time STOPPING them from coming. I reach pause points in books more because I'm not sure which idea to go with.

My idea for Night Sky came while I was sitting in the Taco Bell drive through. An idea for a current project came from the front page of a Time magazine. Another story came from a case my husband prosecuted. MOST of the time they hit me when I'm trying to sleep. So, yeah. Everywhere.

As for time . . . Three mornings a week when BOTH kids are in school. At night. MOST of what I do during the day with kids around is my online stuff and crits for other people. I'll get to a certain point and then I do something with my kids or a "chore" and then I'm back at my computer.

I'm pretty much obsessed. That, and I don't watch TV. OK. I watch a TINY bit of TV. But right now I can't remember the last show I picked out and watched - I'm just usually in the same room as my family and whatever THEY want to watch when they're in front of the TV (not often) - with my computer on my lap.

Angie: Well, now I have to read Night Sky and see what it has to do with Taco Bell :) I know your agent just sold it to a publisher. When does it come out?

Jolene: March 1st :D

Mike (husband) and I were talking about 80s movies in the Taco Bell drive through, and we brought up Pretty in Pink, and I still think Duckie should have gotten the girl. So I started the book with Jameson (my MC) losing the girl friend that he's loved (but never told her he loved) to another guy. And we jump off from there. I think Jameson is VERY close to being my favorite character I've ever written.

Angie: That is SOOO cool! I can't wait to read it (I'm a Duckie fan). I loved your first book, The Next Door Boys. I can't wait for this next one! 

So here is a question I want to know the answer to...You've gone in both directions, you've had your first book published by a small publisher without and agent, and you also have an agent that has sold some of your stories. What is the difference and do you prefer one over the other?

Jolene: MY OPINION (of course)

I don't care how big or small the publisher is, having an agent is SO nice, but it HAS to be the right agent for you, or you'd be better off going it alone.

Going alone is not a bad option - there are a lot of great publishers out there who take manuscripts from un-agented authors, and probably all agents sell books to publishers who take both agented and un-agented authors.

I'd shy away from publishers who prefer that you DON'T have an agent . . . that would seem shady to me.

Angie: Oh, that is good advice. I haven't heard that before. I think deciding to try and go on unagented is a hard decision for lots of writers.

How about a few fun questions? What is your best physical feature? And don't say eyes. Eyes are a cop out!

Jolene: Eyes are a TOTAL copout, lol.

I have nice, tiny feet. Maybe it's why I like shoes so much :D

(I hover between a 6.5 and a 7)

Angie: LOL! I have small feet too! 5 or 6, but I can NEVER find shoes because my feet are wide. My sister says they are square hobbit feet. She is so nice to me :)

Jolene: Yeah, sisters are a pain.

I remind mine all the time that she's SEVEN years older than me :D

Angie: Nice, playing the age card. That always works.  Next fun question :) What color do you think best describes your personality? And why?

Jolene: Orange for my enthusiasm (because you can't be sad around orange), and grey cause I just LOVE grey - it can be soft, it can be hard, it can be warm, cold. Grey can be anything and I love that.

Angie: Oooo! That is great! I'm kind of a color junkie, so I love this answer. You are spot on :)

Okay, I can't let you go without a pageant question (Hehehe, this is SO fun!) -- Since you write contemporary YA, this questions should be right up your alley. What do you think is the biggest problem facing young adults today, and what are some ways we can help them with it?

Jolene: Simply not thinking they're worth more than they are.

I think so many teens have no idea how incredible they are, how much potential they have, how temporary all the crap they're wading through is. Because at that age, everything is HUGE, and it needs to be! It prepares you for the things in life that ARE actually huge. But I wish more than anything that I could have given my high-school self some perspective.

How to help?

Wish for world peace, lol - that's my "pageant" answer.

I think just showing them how much bigger the world is than they are, how much there is out there to do and to experience and that if they want to, they can be a part of incredible things. Big or small, if you're doing good things, you're making the world a better place.

(Was that last bit pageant-y enough?)

Angie: *Clapping. Clapping* 9.5 and you look stunning in that soft gray evening gown! Thanks Jo! You were fantastic today. Fun answers.

 One thing I just love about you is how you can't help but infuse everything you write with your personality! It's so refreshing :) So YOU!

Jolene: Yeah, I really fall on my face when I try to be someone else, LOL.

If I'm gonna crash and burn, I might as well land in the mud as me... even in my stunning grey gown ;-O

THANKS Angie!! This was fun :D

Angie: LOL! Thanks Jolene :)

Jolene and I are kind of long winded when we get together (so sorry for the long post :)  If you want a great story you can buy Jolene’s first book The Next Door Boys right now. Night Sky comes out March 1, 2012 and Knee Deep comes out May 1, 2012.

And the award goes to…

Brittany over at My Life Herding Cats has generously awarded me two blog awards.

Brittany is a former Idaho girl like me, and although we are miles apart we both share a Burley Idaho connection. I’m almost convinced that whether you know it or not--Burley Idaho is the center of the universe.

So in my responsibility as an award winner I must:

• Link Brittany
• Share 7 things about myself
• Award 5 other bloggers
• Contact bloggers

So drum roll please…7 things about me--you didn’t know, you wanted to know:

1) I’m an artist. I draw (ink and colored pencil mostly). But my favorite medium is paper. I can make almost anything out of paper. I’m an expert with scissors. If you wanted me you cut out an elephant, I could do it in an instant—without a pattern.

2) Now don’t judge me too harshly. I’m NOT an animal lover. Animals stress me out. They always want food. They always want inside. They shed—everywhere. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate animals. I would never hurt an animal, but I think animals should belong to people who REALLY want them. (Although I will admit—I do like cats :)

3)I can kick my kid’s butts at Just Dance 2 on the wii. They don’t stand a chance against me. I can rock a near perfect score every time. Snap! Take that kids :)

4) Fall is my favorite time of year. I love the colors, the weather, the food, the football games. But mostly I love the death of the icky hot summer.

5) Don’t judge me for this either :) As a senior in high school I was Idaho’s Jr. Miss 1994. I know…I know…beauty pageants, but Jr. Miss is different. Instead of a swim suit competition contestants are judged on their grades, talent, ability to speak publicly. I paid for my college, including housing, with scholarships I won through Jr. Miss (they have since changed the name to Distinguished Young Woman). I still occasionally act as a judge in Utah.

6) I hate raisins and avocados. I won’t eat anything that has touched a raisin or an avocado.

7) I’m a candy addict. I don’t think I’ve gone fifteen years without some kind of candy every day. I’m not picky (unless raisins are involved) but I prefer chocolate. I kind of have a panic attack if there is no candy in my purse. In fact that reminds me…I need to go to the store.

Now to pass it on—if you don’t follow these bloggers you should.

Emily (Get Busy Writing)—She currently querying, so send her your love.

Abby (Something To Write About) —I love her positivity.

Tara— (Tara Tyler Talks) I can always count on Tara.

Kim (Confessions of a Bibliophile)—Always thoughtful :)

Shelly (Writing With Shelly)—She was my first follower. I’m still not sure how she found me, but I’m glad she did.

There were so many people I wanted to give this to, but I tried to find people who haven’t gotten these awards before. If I missed someone who really wanted it—I’m sorry :)

This post was a little long than my normal posts, so thanks for sticking with it.

-Angie