#PitchWarsAMA

Hello beautiful people of the internet.

I was nominated by Amy Kidd  for #PitchWarsAMA, so I was asked five questions, here are my answers... fair warning. I am a pretty quirky person, I apologize in advance.

@EGMooreWriter asked: what's the weirdest character you've written?

That would have to be my darling Drea. She is a character I came up with years ago for an group story I was writing with some friends. She is mana welder who can't really control her mana very well. Nor can anyone else. Her mana is controlled by her emotions. She is kind of like a Luna Lovegood if Luna Lovegood randomly grew flowers from her ears or crumbled cities on a bad day. She is by far my favorite weird character, she always keeps me on my toes.


@MichaelMammay asked: What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?

Um.... yeah. For 1. I am terrified of birds. And two... I am way better at English then math or science... so I am going to go with 42. That sounds about right, right?

I believe the correct answer was already answered anyways by "European or African"

But I could also answer with 24 miles per hour. (Because that's what google says)

@D.R.Perry asked: How do you get plot ideas, Emmalee?

Good question. Honestly, I don't have a method to my madness. One book came out of pure thin air. Another was a dream I had. There was one that came from watching a movie. And my kids are always a good inspiration for imagination.

@E.L. Wicker asked: Is there a particular book or author that inspires you more than any other?

Honestly, it changes with the day. When I read I absorb so much from each book. Thinks I like, thinks I don't, feels... etc. There isn't one book that I can pinpoint more than another. But I can say that the FIRST book to ever inspire me was Alice in Wonderland.

And last but not least the question that had me up for a few hours last night....

@Eris0303 asked: Who wins - ninja vs pirate?

I feel like the answer to this should also be the answer to all the worlds questions and therefore should be 42.

But that doesn't explain it.

I think it depends on location... because in the water pirates would totally rule... but on land... pirates wouldn't have a chance and ninjas would totally dominate.

I sat up last night thinking of scenarios and that is what I came up with. Lame I know. But that's my answer and I am sticking to it! Plus, I am working on minimal sleep because I was up all night thinking about this.

And with that, @EGMooreWriter you're up!

#PitchWars Mentee Bio

For those of you here looking for more info on me… you have come to the right place.

Insert awkward pause…

Hi, I’m Emmalee. I have been writing since I was about twelve, and I haven’t had writer’s block in about three months.

End Writer’s anonymous speech.

Anyways.

I am a little crazy, a little quirky, a lot random and a splash hippie.

8 years ago, I married my high school sweetheart, about a year and a half after that I became a stay at home mom and really started writing.

This was the only serious picture I could find from that day. We are so not serious people!

I have two blonde haired monsters, Tuca, our son, who’s seven. And Goosie, our daughter, who’s four. (Clearly, those are not the names on their birth certificates, but they both answer to them) 

My husband, D, is a computer geek by day, volunteer EMT by night. 

And by night, I mean, dead of sleep, middle of the night, pager going off and scaring the crap out of you to the point where you thrash around in bed trying to figure out what the hell is going on for about five minutes before realizing it’s not the fire alarm and you’re not having a heart attack.

I write Young Adult Fantasy and New Adult contemporary.

I did at one point try to self-publish, but after falling hard on my arse and making a complete fool out of myself for doing it when I wasn’t ready, I have taken that book off the market, put on the cone of shame, tucked my tail and started to edit hardcore.  Since then, I have gained two AMAZING CPs and grown a ton!

I tend to learn lessons the hard way.

I’m the volunteer coordinator for the PTO at my monster’s schools.  And I volunteer a lot of time in the elementary schools.

Right now, I have three little girls playing Princess Tea party on a sleeping bag in my living room. My son has escaped from girl world going on here and ran across the street to the neighbors to play. There was too much dress up going on, he said.

I love vanilla ice cream and fresh out of the garden tomatoes. (We planted 52 tomato plants this year… I am going to regret that statement come the end of August). 

I have no tattoos but I love tattoo shows.

When I was a kid I wanted to be a cheerleader when I grew up. After doing that for 12+ years plus coaching for 6, I have hung up my pom poms.

I’m willing to edit quickly, especially since school will be starting in T minus 3 weeks!!! 

I am horrible at public speaking but I am a great party planner. I am very detail orientated.

I love to craft, but I don’t have a crafting niche. I sew, quilt, do paper crafts, cut vinyl… pretty much I will try anything crafty at least once. 

My favorite holiday is Halloween. I love skittles and gummy bears.

I will definitely work hard as a mentee.

Thank you Brenda Drake and #PitchWars for this amazing opportunity. 

~M

NEOPHYTE - Query and first 250 for Writer's Voice

Query:

At seventeen years old, Addisyn White throws herself in front of a bullet to save a friend. She expected to find pearly white gates and an eternity of calorie-free ice cream on the other side of life. Instead, her act of heroism earns her a pair of flightless wings and a family of dysfunctional angels.

The afterlife isn't all bad. She's on track to become the youngest guardian in one of the most well respected North American angel links. Trouble is, it's taking forever and a day. Five years of transitioning might not seem like much to angels who've spent decades or even centuries comforting dying souls and ushering them to the other side, but it's an eternity to a recently deceased teenage girl.

When a mysterious dark-winged angel kidnaps her, Addisyn discovers a seedy underbelly of angel culture. Not all angels are harbingers of sugar and spice and everything nice. Some resent their deaths. Some use their powers for selfish, hedonistic purposes. Some just want to watch the world burn.

To the majority of the angelic world, these fallen angels are a lost cause, but Addi sees a chance to redeem other new angels on the cusp of falling. She's tired of being coddled, sick of being useless, and ready to prove her link and the Elder Council wrong by any means necessary. Through stubbornness, a budding romance, and a friendship that ends too soon, Addisyn is going to make her mark on the world or fall trying.

 NEOPHYTE is a 95,000 word, high young adult contemporary fantasy novel. This is the first in a planned series, but can also stand alone.

I’m a mother with a passion for writing and an over active imagination; which makes soccer practice and the endless dance mom gossip at preschool ballet a little more tolerable! This is my job. I’m a stay at home mom/author with the dream of staying home writing forever and I wouldn’t have it any other way.


Thank you for your time and consideration!

Emmalee Aple

My contact information is as follows:  email: emmalee,aple@gmail.com 

I am also very active on both my facebook page (Emmalee Aple) and my Twitter account - @EmmaleeAple

First 250 of Neophyte:

Honestly, they must have thought I was going to throw a celestial-sized rager the minute they left me alone. They’d promised me some time to myself, and yet, twenty minutes later they were still skulking around trying to find ways to delay the inevitable. I’d been under almost constant supervision for two years. An hour or two alone wasn’t going to kill anyone.

I sank further into the porch swing as the sun dipped over the ocean, creating a cascade of colors across the evening sky. Seawater filled the air with a crisp, cleanness while the waves filled the otherwise silent night with a soft roar. Finally, I could just relax and pretend I was a normal teenage girl, instead of the recently deceased Addisyn White and her five angelic misfit guardians: Bossy, Crabby, Hottie, Cocky, and Rebel.

“Hey,” a voice called from the doorway. I glanced over to my best friend Cocky—I mean Hunter—standing there with a grim look on his face, as if leaving me alone was tantamount to signing my death certificate. Again. He and I had some kind of God-given bond, which sounded far more epic than it really was. Mostly the bond just gave him an all-access pass to my thoughts with only a touch of his hand to mine. I had yet to gain that super power—along with many others on the long list of things I still couldn’t do.  Just another perk of being the newbie.

“Thought I’d tell you Graham and I are leaving.”

Contests

I've become an ADDICT!

I love Brenda Drake contests and Pitch Madness is finally here! 

I entered my submission around 7 this morning CST. And officially dumped my submission into the slushpile. 

Hopefully I make it to the top 60!

Here is my submission for your reading enjoyment. 

Title: NEOPHYTE

Genre: YA Urban Fantasy/Paranormal

Word Count: 95,000

Pitch:

After sacrificing her life to save a friend, Addisyn's angelic afterlife should be all clouds, halos, and harps. Too bad the dark-winged angel who's manipulating her to incite a war didn't get the memo.

Excerpt:

Honestly, they must have thought I was going to throw a celestial-sized rager the minute they left me alone. They’d promised me some time to myself, and yet, twenty minutes later, were still skulking around, finding ways to delay the inevitable. I’d been under almost constant supervision for two years. An hour or two alone wasn’t going to kill anyone.

I sank into the porch swing. The sun dipped lower over the ocean and created a cascade of colors across the evening sky. Seawater gave the air a clean fragrance as the soft, constant roar of the waves filled the otherwise silent night. Finally, I could just relax and pretend I was a normal teenage girl, instead of feeling like the recently deceased Addisyn White and her five angelic misfit handlers: Bossy, Crabby, Hottie, Cocky, and Rebel.

“Hey,” a voice called from the doorway. I glanced over to my best friend Cocky-I mean Hunter-standing there with a grim look on his face, as if leaving me alone was tantamount to signing my death certificate. Again. We were bonded by God. Which sounded more epic than it really was. Mostly the bond just gave him an all-access pass to my thoughts with only a touch of his hand to mine. I had yet to gain that super power—another on a long list of things I still couldn’t do. Just another perk of being the newbie.

“Thought I’d tell you Graham and I are leaving.”

Graham, aka Rebel, looked nothing like Greysan, his fraternal twin I’d had a not-so-secret crush on since the day I met him.



Some of you might find this familiar. Yes it's Neophyte, but I revised and redid most of it. If you've read it before, you're going to want to read it again when its published again. I am working on getting Requiem edited and finished so I can put all my attention into Rogue and get all three out together. 

What do you think? 

~M

DONE!

Not with this blog... sorry for the absence... I spent all... well most... of January and the beginning of February rewriting/editing Neophyte.

Yeah, yeah, yeah... I know, I have been saying that forever now. 

But really.

It's done.

And it's sparkly and shiny and amazing.

For those of you who have read previous versions of it. Ditch those and read this one. 

You will thank me.

As for any and all manuscripts that come after Neophyte... well I am working on Requiem right now. And hopefully by the time I am done editing and writing it--I'll be able to pronounce it's title properly.

I seriously only have like 20-30 pages more to write and it's done!

And then I will be writing Rogue, which is in like a billion pieces right now.  And working on the rewrite of Tainted Lullaby, because you are all going to want to read that one... its my New Adult, and it's so freaking hot and amazing and I am so proud of it.

So, yeah that's where I am right now. 

Gotta run and get the Goose from preschool - today was their Valentine Celebration! She was so excited!

Tootles!

~M

Monday Madness

It's Monday!

And man did it seem like a long time coming!

Saturday I had people over from 11 in the morning until 2AM on Sunday!  Talk about a long day!  I think I had a mental break down that day because I let my friend cut my hair in my dining room, I also laughed uncontrollably most of the day. Good friends bring that side of me out.

Yesterday, I paid for being up so late... you know, because I am old and have kids...  I was totally regretting my half bottle of wine when I rolled out of bed early enough to shower before waking up my monsters to take them swimming with my mom and gram.  

I was so tired yesterday that I accidentally put orange juice in my son's cookie crisp cereal. He was not so appreciative of that.

We (My son and I)  had a lot of ups and downs yesterday and by the time I sat down to write and edit, I was on my last piece of sanity. 

So instead we watched a movie together as a family. The second half we watched over the sound of D (my husband and the daddy of my monsters....) snoring. Because having the house to yourself must be very taxing.  ;)  He made good target practice for the popcorn fight too. 

I was so excited to put my kids to bed last night because I thought I would finally get sleep. 

My daughter proved that to be wrong. She got up at 3:30 and wanted breakfast and to be up for the day. 

I finally got her back to sleep around 6, only to get up to get my son ready for school.

So now I get to sit down and get to work. 

Because it is Monday.

And I have a job.

I am an author.

And a mother. 

Which means lots of laundry to do today, and my house needs a good cleaning. We also have gymnastics after school tonight for the son and a play date with my mom for the daughter. 

Did I mention I just want to sleep?  I would love like 3 straight hours of uninterrupted sleep. No kids, no cats, no dog. Just sleep. I don't remember the last time I slept three straight hours. And I don't even have any babies in my house anymore. 

So I get to write around my chaos.

And I get to wear my son's headphones when he isn't home because I hate cramming earbuds into my ears only to have them fall back out because they are to big for my little ear spaces. 

And you get to endure many Monday Madness posts from here on out. 

Welcome to my chaotic life. 

~M

Crit Partners

When I started writing, all those years ago....

I had this naive image of what getting a book published is all about. 

Man was that a reality check after I had finished my book and thought it was perfect and ready for an agent to pick it up, wave their magic wand and poof my manuscript would become a book. 

I never once thought it was going to be as hard to get an agent, (I currently still don't have one. But if you are an agent reading this, and you are looking for an awesome writing who will work hard... contact me! I won't disappoint!) I didn't even know how to get one really. I thought you just go through pick one off a list, tell them you want them and poof they were all yours. 

Yeah, I am blonde... and it was a big shocker when that wasn't how it went. 

So, that was a few years ago. And I learn new things about the writing/publishing world almost every day!

Like Crit partners! 

Who knew there are incredible people out there that will help you with your MS as long as you help them with theirs!

So I met two amazing women, Ashley and Leila and they have helped me more in two weeks than I have helped myself in the last year by trying to do it on my own!

These two have helped me renew my love of the Linked Series and I am working hard at getting it done and out for all to read. Hopefully with this awesome revamping of it an agent will see it and love it and me and the characters and will want to sign me and help me further my career.

So that is awesome and so are my new Crit partners!

~M 

How do you write?

Do you have a ritual for when you write?

I have to have something to snack on, some music and something to drink.

But as of now, I don't have a set writing schedule. I usually have at least one child running, demanding something or another and by the time both my monsters go to bed, I am worn out and ready for sleeping myself, so late night writing doesn't work for me. 

I have found that sitting in a chair, not on my couch helps me be more productive, but sitting at my table means the kids have to keep walking by me, which means they ask for things - constantly! 

And the little coffee shop in the center of my town has a great view for writing to. 

But I only manage to get there when both kiddos are in school, which is twice a week for 2 hours. 

This year, I plan on making myself a writing schedule and really sticking to it. 

Feel free to poke me and tell me to work if you see me on Facebook or Twitter. I need less distraction, my offline life is enough of a distraction as it is! But honestly, how can you tell your 3-year-old 'no' when she asks to play tea party for the 6th time that day?

~M

It's a New Year!

Hello!

New Year, New Blog. Welcome and get comfortable!

Here is where the fun, chaotic journey of 2014 is going to start for me. I plan on making it a huge year both in my personal life and my writing career. So buckle your seat belt and get ready for the roller coast that is my life! 

I guess I should start by saying Happy New Year!

Over the next couple days I will be vamping up this page as well as I can and getting it up and running! So if you see some construction just hold tight, I'm making it all sparkly and bright. 

Can't wait to blog again! I've been missing this part of my life for a while now and so I thought, what's a better day to start than the first day of a new year! 

Enjoy the Chaos!

~M