Michelle I. Mason
Books for young adults
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Posted May 19, 2014 by Websy Daisy & filed under .

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THE HERO’S GUIDE TO BEING AN OUTLAW & A Few Other Books You Should Read

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Welcome to my blog, where I review* books I love, offer writing tips, and share thoughts about reading, my writing journey, and other random stuff. If you subscribe, you’ll also receive news about my books and upcoming events. Check out the categories in the sidebar to narrow down some of my older blog posts, or if you’re a writer pursuing traditional publication, visit my Resources page for more targeted links. If there’s something I haven’t tackled on the blog that you’d like me to address—including questions about my books!—please contact me and I’ll do my best.

*Please note I do not review books by request.

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Day 25 of #debutauthormonth for #the21ders is: How Day 25 of #debutauthormonth for #the21ders is: How do you tackle edits? Oh, revising… my favorite part! By far the most popular writing topic on my blog (link in bio). For the purposes of this prompt, I’m going to assume the question refers to how I approach edits from my agent or editor. 1. Read through all the notes and set it aside for a few days so I can mull them over. 2. If there are questions to answer, write out the answers. If there are big issues, brainstorm how to address them. 3. Make a revision checklist. 4. Tackle the little things first. 5. Tackle other items that thread throughout together. For earlier revisions, when I don’t need to track changes, I use Scrivener as I can use the Collections feature to go through and focus on specific subplots. 6. Address anything I’m not 100% sure I want to change. I’m in the camp of unless I am violently opposed to a change, it’s worth trying it to see what happens. 7. Go through and make sure everything has been addressed. 8. Read through the manuscript on another device (usually my Kindle). Often I read it aloud as I am more likely to catch inconsistencies that way. I’m skipping steps, but that’s the streamlined process. I also have a process for editing when I’m doing it on my own, after first drafting a novel. But I would ALWAYS rather be revising than drafting 😀. #igauthors #igauthorslife #igauthorscommunity #amwritingya #amwritingchallenge #amrevising #ameditingya #yawritersofinstagram #writerscommunityofig
Day 24 of #debutauthormonth for #the21ders is: Plo Day 24 of #debutauthormonth for #the21ders is: Plotter, pantser, or both? Many years ago, I started out as a pantser, i.e. I just wrote whatever came along until I got to the end. Except… it took me FOREVER to actually get to the end. Then I moved to plantsing, which for me meant I made a rough outline using the cork board tool in Scrivener (love this feature!) and wrote to the end. That worked pretty well. Then I discovered the book STRUCTURING YOUR NOVEL by K.M. Weiland and became an all-out plotter. It made drafting so much easier. Yes, plotting everything out takes a while, but once it’s finished, the drafting goes so quickly! And yes, I do also allow the story to diverge from the outline if needed. Just to affirm how well this process works *for me*, last year I tried to pants again when a story wasn’t coming together, and I ended up having to set it aside. You can read about that experience on my blog (link to post in bio). This manuscript is the one I’m once again outlining and should be back to drafting shortly 😉.
Day 22 of #debutauthormonth for #the21ders is favo Day 22 of #debutauthormonth for #the21ders is favorite TV shows. I watch way too much TV. It used to say so in my bio, but I tried to make it a little more professional 😀. Anyway, I think the ultimate sign that you love a TV show is if you have a DVD box set, right? I mean, when that was still a thing… Pretty sure these Buffy and Friends boxes are now collectors’ items or something. I’ve watched through the Buffy Box (yes, it deserves to be capitalized) more than once. My husband had never seen Friends (!!!), so we watched that one together. Incidentally, I also have individual seasons of Alias and Ally McBeal, but they don’t look as pretty. Up until the very last episode, I was planning to buy Lost, and then—nope. When I was querying, it was one of my comp titles—I mean, a missing plane! One agent told me YOUR LIFE HAS BEEN DELAYED gave her the ending she’d wanted for Lost 😉. #favoritetvshow #favoritetvshows #buffythevampireslayer #buffyfan #buffybox #friends #friendsbox #yourlifehasbeendelayed #yatimetravel #lifedelayed #ylhbd #2021debut #authorsofinstagram #yaauthorsofinstagram #authorlife #yaauthorlife #authorgram #igwriters #igauthors #writerslife #writinglife #amwriting #amwritingya
Day 21 of #debutauthormonth for #the21ders is: Wha Day 21 of #debutauthormonth for #the21ders is: What would your character do during lockdown? Funny you should ask, since Jenny’s brother and then her parents essentially keep her on lockdown when she first lands in the future—or present, depending on your perspective. Jenny processes the way she always does—by writing about what’s happening to her as a news story in one of her many spiral notebooks. Ultimately, she hopes to publish her account in her school newspaper. She tries to keep it objective, but every once in a while her stories morph into ranty journal entries 😉. In a scenario in which local authorities have mandated residents stay at home, Jenny would follow the rules to the letter. As she’s in a new century and her friends are all 25 years older, she doesn’t have anyone to call, so she would just read her historical romance novels, saved by her parents since 1995. #yourlifehasbeendelayed #yatimetravel #lifedelayed #ylhbd #2021debut #authorsofinstagram #yaauthorsofinstagram #authorlife #yaauthorlife #authorgram #igwriters #igauthors #amwritingya #writersofinstagram #yawritersofinstagram #writerscommunity #yawriterlife #yafictionwriter #writerscorner #igwritersclub #writemore #lovewriting #iwriteya #writewritewrite #youngadultauthor #yaauthor #yawriter
Day 20 of #debutauthormonth for #the21ders is: Wha Day 20 of #debutauthormonth for #the21ders is: What four songs would fit your book? I know many writers make playlists or listen to music while they write, but I don’t, so this was hard! I looked through my whole playlist and then did some searching to find songs that fit YOUR LIFE HAS BEEN DELAYED, and even then, I had to convince myself not to be too literal about the lyrics 😉. So here we go: Leaving On A Jet Plane - Because getting on a plane changes everything for Jenny. I personally like the version by Chantal Kreviazuk from Armaggedon. Run-Around by Blues Traveler - One of the top 10 songs the week Jenny left 1995! Back in Time by Huey Lewis & The News - Because… time travel 😳. 867-5309/Jenny by Tommy Tutone - If only it were just a matter of everyone knowing her phone number like the Jenny in the song… #yourlifehasbeendelayed #yatimetravel #lifedelayed #ylhbd #2021debut #bookplaylist #leavingonajetplane #runaround #backintime #8675309 #jennyigotyournumber #writingplaylist #yaauthorsofinstagram #yaauthorlife #writersofinstagram #yawritersofinstagram #yawriterlife #yafictionwriter #writemore #lovewriting #iwriteya #writewritewrite #youngadultauthor #yaauthor #yawriter
Day 18 of #debutauthormonth for #the21ders is all Day 18 of #debutauthormonth for #the21ders is all about my writing process. In an ideal world, it goes something like this: 
I take a shiny new idea and outline it in Scrivener (posts about my Scrivener outlining found on the Resources page of my website; link in bio). Then I fast-draft, writing about 1,800 words every weekday until I knock out the whole novel. If I stop, it’s very hard for me to get started again! *Ideally* I then let it sit for a bit before I revise. Once I can’t do anything else, I send it out to trusted critique partners and beta readers, incorporate their feedback, and repeat until it’s ready. In the case of YOUR LIFE HAS BEEN DELAYED—for which I was able to follow this process—that meant querying! Now it means ready for my agent 😀. Now that I’m in the pre-publication world, it’s been a little harder to follow this process. I’ve currently been stuck in PROCRASTINATION, which is where I end up if I don’t get all the way through that first draft right away 😉. #writingprocess #mywritingprocess #fastdraft #fastdrafting #ihatedrafting #loverevising #scrivenerforlife #scrivenerlove #authorsofinstagram #yaauthorsofinstagram #yaauthorlife #igwriters #igauthors #writinglife #writersofinstagram #yawritersofinstagram #writerlife #yawriterlife #yafictionwriter #amwritingfiction #writemore #lovewriting #iwriteya #youngadultauthor #yaauthor #yawriter
Day 17 of #debutauthormonth for #the21ders is weir Day 17 of #debutauthormonth for #the21ders is weirdest research topic. How about the history of the fist bump? YOUR LIFE HAS BEEN DELAYED is about a 17-year-old girl who jumps forward from 1995 to 2020, so one of the first things I did was make a long list of things that were different. Then I turned to the internet and ‘90s movies to study everyday life for teens. One of the scenes in my book features my character going to school, and she flinches when she thinks a boy is about to punch the boy she’s with, but it’s a fist bump. So, my editor asked: are you sure people weren’t fist bumping in the nineties? And this sent me down a rabbit hole. Because the answer is complicated. It’s not that fist bumping didn’t exist in the nineties. You’d see it on sports fields. And maybe it was a regular greeting for certain friends. But it didn’t become more universal than the high-five until 2008, when Barack Obama fist bumped Michelle after his nomination victory. You wouldn’t believe how many articles are out there right afterward dissecting the fist bump! My conclusion matched my memory: that kids in a suburban nineties high school were not fist bumping :). But it was also fascinating that something so everyday for us now really became that way as recently as a dozen years ago. History is fascinating. And in another dozen years, someone will be researching where the elbow bump originated… #fistbump #yourlifehasbeendelayed #yatimetravel #lifedelayed #ylhbd #2021debut #thenineties #authorsofinstagram #yaauthorsofinstagram #authorlife #yaauthorlife #igwriters #igauthors #writinglife #amwritingya #writersofinstagram #yawritersofinstagram #yawriterlife #yafictionwriter #amwritingfiction #writerscorner #lovewriting #iwriteya #writewritewrite #youngadultauthor #yaauthor #yawriter
Day 15 of #debutauthormonth for #the21ders is favo Day 15 of #debutauthormonth for #the21ders is favorite book outside your genre. Easy: PRIDE AND PREJUDICE by Jane Austen. I first read P&P when I was 14 and immediately fell in love with Elizabeth and Darcy. Then the BBC mini-series came out in 1995 and was the perfect adaptation. In college, I ended up writing my senior honors thesis on Jane Austen and the film adaptations of her books. There have been so many more since then. I would have loved to include Pride and Prejudice and Zombies in that thesis! I also love P&P retellings, so if you have recommendations, bring them on! If it’s one I’ve missed, I’ll add it to my TBR list. #favoritebook #prideandprejudice #janeausten #janeaustenforever #bookstagramchallenge #monthlychallenge #authorchallenge #bookcover #bookchallenge #booksinthewild #booksoutside #bookfan #bookgram #bookcommunity #totalbooknerd #booknerdigans #bookgeek #booklove #bookishlove #bookaddiction #alwaysreading #lovebooks #booksofinstagram #lovetoread #bookcollection #igbooks
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