Michelle I. Mason
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Posted September 28, 2015 by Websy Daisy & filed under .

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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 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
Day 14 of #debutauthormonth for #the21ders is favo Day 14 of #debutauthormonth for #the21ders is favorite book in your genre. As YOUR LIFE HAS BEEN DELAYED is a YA time travel, I guess that technically makes it sci-fi, although it has a mainly contemporary feel. But for the purposes of this challenge, I’ll take the YA sci-fi label and choose The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer. Yes, it’s a series, but how can you just choose one book? Actually, wait, for tomorrow, I can. Stay tuned… #thelunarchronicles #marissameyer #yabooks #yareads #youngadultbooks #yalover #yalit #ireadya #yalovin #yacontemporary #yaromance #yascifi #yasciencefiction #yabookstagram #bookshelfie #shelfie #shelflove #bookstack #bookspines #authorsofinstagram #yaauthorsofinstagram #iwriteya #writewritewrite #youngadultauthor #yaauthor #yawriter
Day 13 of #debutauthormonth for #the21ders is most Day 13 of #debutauthormonth for #the21ders is most anticipated Roaring 20s books. Pictured above ⬆️ are a few of the #roaring20sdebut books I splurged on during lockdown: 📚My Life As A Potato by Arianne Costner 📚Hood by Jenny Elder Moke 📚The Paper Girl of Paris by Jordyn Taylor 📚The Silence of Bones by June Hur 📚The Perfect Escape by Suzanne Park Here are a few others I couldn’t wait to read and also deserve to be shouted about ⬇️: 📚Tweet Cute by Emma Lord 📚What I Like About You by Marisa Kanter 📚If These Wings Could Fly by Kyrie McCauley 📚From the Desk of Zoe Washington by Janae Marks 📚Most Likely by Sarah Watson 📚More Than Just A Pretty Face by Syed M. Masood 📚Sia Martinez and the Moonlit Beginning of Everything by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland I can’t imagine what it’s like debuting in 2020. Definitely check out these and other books by the Roaring 20 authors! #yabooks #yareads #youngadultbooks #historicalfiction #yalover #yalit #ireadya #yalovin #yafantasy #yacontemporary #yaromance #yascifi #yasciencefiction #yahistoricalfiction #yabookstagram #mgfiction #mgbooks #middlegrade #middlegradefiction #mghumor #funnymg #middlegradehumor #readinglist #mustread #whattoread #greatreads
Day 12 of #debutauthormonth for #the21ders: First Day 12 of #debutauthormonth for #the21ders: First lines! Poor Jenny just wants to call her boyfriend on the airport PAY PHONE before she gets on her plane. Will she have the chance to talk to him before she jumps ahead into a whole new century? Or will the businessman foil her plans? Find out in the opening scene of YOUR LIFE HAS BEEN DELAYED, coming Aug. 24, 2021, from @bloomsburyya. It’s not yet available for pre-order, but you can add it on Goodreads (link in bio). #yourlifehasbeendelayed #yatimetravel #lifedelayed #ylhbd #2021debut #yabooks #yareads #youngadultbooks #yaromance #authorsofinstagram #yaauthorsofinstagram #authorlife #yaauthorlife #authorgram #igwriters #igauthors #amwritingya #yawritersofinstagram #writerlife #yawriterlife #yafictionwriter #lovewriting #iwriteya #writewritewrite #youngadultauthor #yaauthor #yawriter
Day 11 of #debutauthormonth for #the21ders is #she Day 11 of #debutauthormonth for #the21ders is #shelfie day, and every time I participate in one of these challenges I post a picture of my downstairs bookshelf, so I decided to give some love to the classics today instead. I was an English major, and while I don’t re-read the classics super often, I probably read a couple every year. Jane Austen is ALWAYS my favorite, but I also really love Shakespeare (especially the comedies), and am up for any retelling of either of these authors. But one of my very favorite undergrad classes was on Chaucer, which is how my cat got his name 😉. #classics #classicbooks #classicshelfie #classicretellings #janeausten #williamshakespeare #shakespeare #chaucer #chaucerthecat #bookshelfie #shelflove #bookstack #bookspines #lovereading #booksofinstagram #lovetoread #bookcollection #fortheloveofreading #ilovereading #bookcollector #authorsofinstagram #yaauthorsofinstagram #authorlife #yaauthorlife
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