The thankful part is for all the wonderful friends I've made on LiveJournal the last few years. The tough part is that I've decided I need to close down my LiveJournal blog.

Wait! I'm not going away. :)

Most of you, but not all (?) may know that I also blog at my wordpress website, www.beckylevine.com. I started this site/blog last fall, when I knew ( Read more... )

1. I'm thankful the latest heat wave decided to only hang around a couple of days. The house is cool enough to work and think again.

2. I'm thankful my son is having a good time at his cousin's--going to the Exploratorium, riding some concrete slide thingy, and doing the Alcatraz tour this weekend. It means I can have long hours of productivity AND ( Read more... )

I just finished reading Mary Pearson's The Miles Between, and I loved it. I posted over at my other blog about secrets today and what I've learned from seeing how Mary uses them for tension in both this book and in The Adoration of Jenna Fox.

Everybody's been saying this--that The Miles Between is very different from Jenna, and I'd agree. But I ( Read more... )

Two hours ago, I sent off the email with the latest set of revised files for the critique book. Okay, there are two tiny files still coming my way, but I don't expect any changes of real size, so I'm calling myself "done." I think the next step is the page design, and since I am completely artistically challenged, I am beyond pleased to think of ( Read more... )

If you're interested in being a stop on the road-trip of Mary Pearson's ARC, The Miles Between, don't forget to leave a comment at my contest post. We'll draw the winner Friday.

Got myself to push through a LOT of chapters today, just checking last stuff on the copyedits. My eyes are bonked, but it feels good. A couple of things to finish up in the ( Read more... )

Okay, this is not the official picture:


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Yesterday, I had a revelation. It wasn't a big one. Probably, it was one that most of you had and didn't really notice or pay much attention to. Here it is:

OMG, it's July.

Did my first draft get written in June? No. I'm okay with that. I've made progress and will make more and the draft is moving forward. I have some feeling that, with this story, ( Read more... )

1. It is hot. And it will be hotter tomorrow. The fans are up and on, and the window shades down. And I made ice cubes. Survival likely, if not pleasant.

2. Started working on my copyedits for The Writing & Critique Group Survival Guide. Pretty clean, so it's mostly a matter of reminding my brain to make connections between what's marked on a page ( Read more... )

This is my library.


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I'm reading Jim Butcher's newest Harry Dresden book--Turn Coat. I love The Dresden Files series--the books are funny and fast, and the writing is beautifully tight and trim.

But I'm being reminded once again about a particular aspect of Butcher's brilliance--the way he gets the entire relationship between two characters (or three) into a scene. He ( Read more... )