Monday, November 24, 2014

A Desperate Attempt at Productivity Disguised As A Live Blog

Good Morning, Y'all.

The last time I attempted a live blog to show how little time I have to write and be productive, I somehow wound up being... pretty productive. So this morning, when I woke up feeling exhausted and overwhelmed with no idea where to start, I thought I'd try this again in hopes that history will repeat itself.

Here are my goals for today, in no particular order:

- Write at least 1000 words, in spite of the fact that this ms hates me and the characters act like they're too cool to talk to me.
- Pay bills
- Have some photos of my son printed up for my sister-in-law
- Go to the post office
- Finish making my mother's Christmas gift
- Order Christmas gifts for various peeps
- Cook dinner
- Unload the dishwasher

And here's how things are starting out:

5 a.m. - Husband's alarm woke me up, which it usually doesn't. My first attempt at cracking my eyelids apart tells me they're puffy and in no mood to be open. I try in vain to fall back to sleep as my husband gets ready for work.

5:30 a.m. - Husband is in the kitchen, VERY NOISILY loading the dishwasher. I jump out of bed to tell him I'll do it later, when the baby is AWAKE, thank you. He runs it anyway.

6:15 a.m. - Remember that thing about the baby being awake? Yeah. He starts stirring as soon as my husband opens the garage door to leave for work.

7:00 a.m. - Still haven't fallen back to sleep, and the baby is now full-on babbling in his crib. I get up to wash my face and brush my teeth.

7:30 a.m. - Baby is lying in his crib, just chilling. I'm washed up. My hair is combed, but still looks like a wild rat's nest. Since I can't hide under a blanket and avoid Monday altogether, I decide to live blog.

That leads us to now. I'm about to go get my son from his crib. Be back in a bit.....

8:50 a.m. - Baby is changed and fed. Which sounds so easy. But, like his mother, the boy does NOT like to be kept waiting for food. He does this the entire time I'm prepping it:



But at the first sign of pancakes in front of him, suddenly:


And somehow, he still thinks he can fool me with those crocodile tears.

As for me, I'm currently getting ready to eat my breakfast while he watches a video in his playroom (the disaster area you see behind the high chair), and order some photos online via Walgreens. Excuse me, pancakes await....

9:40 a.m. -  I'm fed, dishwasher is unloaded, prints are ordered. I've donned my SAHM uniform of yoga pants and a sweatshirt. I even went as far as to put on some concealer, because that 5 a.m. wake up call is written all over my face, in the form of horrendous bags under my eyes.

I am gross today, guys. My hair, my face, my clothes. I am the total package of grossness. And that's *after* putting in a modicum of effort, which makes it especially depressing. But, my errands aren't going to run themselves, so I'll just brace myself as I prepare to go out in public....

12:12 p.m. - Baby and I went to Walgreens and the post office. Discovered it is freakishly warm outside compared to yesterday's downpouring coldness. Which is awesome, except it made getting a 23-pound kid in and out of his car seat and stroller 4 separate times while overdressed extra fun. Plus he decided to kick his shoe off as we were leaving both places.

Had some time to kill before lunch when we got home, so I took the baby for a walk around the neighborhood. Currently we're in my office, and he's pulling at me and whining as I write this. Just turned around to find he'd dumped a bunch of stuff in the middle of the floor. Don't even know where he got it from. Guess it's time for lunch....

1:30 p.m. - Both baby and I have had our lunches. We Face Timed with my mother, who's working from home today. He's in a clean diaper and DOWN FOR HIS NAP AT LAST! The dirty dishes piled up in my sink are giving me anxiety, but I'm not going to touch them. I never know how long these precious napping moments will last, and with 10K left to write, I can't afford to waste any.

2:50 p.m. - 490 words written. The lawn service for my neighbor across the street just started making a huge racket in their front yard with a machine that sounds like 50 chainsaws buzzing simultaneously. I'm sweating bullets that they're going to wake up my son.

And also eating ice cream, because if he wakes up, at least I've had ice cream.

4:15 p.m. - BABY IS UP AND MY WORD COUNT GOAL HAS BEEN MET! 1051 words total. I know it's not a lot, but for a pokey drafter like me, it's a victory!

8:25 p.m. - I read a bunch of books to the baby, then fed him dinner. I LOVE that he now picks his favorite books from his collection and brings them to me to read to him. It makes my authorly AND my motherly hearts happy.

Next I made dinner for my husband and me while Andrew watched Shrek in his playroom. I ate my food where he couldn't see me, otherwise he would've gone into full-on mooch mode. My husband was not nearly as wise.

I also washed all the dishes and wiped down all the counters while my husband played with our son, because it stresses me out to go to bed knowing there are dirty things in need of cleaning in the sink. Then we brushed the baby's teeth and put him to bed. Now I need to get in the shower, maybe write some more, then read a little to wind down for bed.

Oh, and I ate more ice cream. Because tomorrow, I'll need to start all over again.

Hope YOU had a productive day too, Peeps! Feel free to tell me about it!


Saturday, November 15, 2014

Getting To Know You Blog Hop And Giveaway!


Hi All!

Today I'm participating in Cuddlebuggery's Getting to Know You bloghop, where a bunch of fabulous writers can learn a little more about one another, and give away some awesome prizes while they're at it!



So here are some random facts about me, both authorly and otherwise:

- My name is Gina Ciocca, and no one knows how to pronounce my last name. For the record, it's See-OH-ka :)

- I'm seriously grossed out by feet and potato buds.

- I'm the worst Italian ever. I speak maybe 3 words of the language, hate coffee, rarely drink wine, have never been to Italy, and can not make homemade pasta sauce without the assistance of my mother or grandmother.

- I write YA contemporary romance, and have a soft spot for paranormal of the I-see-dead-people variety. Which is why I write that too. (PARANORMAL IS NOT A 4-LETTER WORD! POWER TO THE DEAD PEOPLE! *steps off soapbox*)

- The first book I ever fell in love with was Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson, and the first literary couple I ever fell in love with was Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe from the Anne of Green Gables series.

CLASSIC.

But....

- I totally credit Smallville and the romance between Lana and Clark as the inspiration for keeping my romance-obsessed brain fueled with teen angst.
clana clark kent lana lang gif calling kiss photo: Clana Smile (Exodus) ClanaGIF.gif
SWOOOOON

Speaking of which...

My YA debut, LAST YEAR'S MISTAKE, releases June 9th, 2015 from Simon Pulse, and is available for pre-order on Amazon now! It has a pretty atypical pub story, which you can read here.


Is there anything that electric chemistry can’t overcome? The past may be gone, but love has a way of holding on in this romantic debut novel told in alternating Before and After chapters.


The summer before freshman year, Kelsey and David became inseparable best friends—until the night a misunderstanding turned Kelsey into the school joke and everything around her crumbled, including her friendship with David. So when Kelsey’s parents decide to move away, she can’t wait to start over and leave the past behind. But David’s not quite ready to be left.

Now it’s senior year and Kelsey has a new group of friends, genuine popularity, and a hot boyfriend. Her life is perfect. That is, until David’s family moves to town. Old feelings bubble to the surface and threaten to destroy Kelsey’s second chance at happiness. The more time she spends with David, the more she realizes she never let him go. And maybe she never wants to…


For my giveaway, I chose books that are near and dear to my heart.


The first combines my love of paranormal and romance - UNEARTHLY by Cynthia Hand (paperback). It's one of my absolute favorites, and therefore my go-to anytime I'm asked to give away a book that's special to me. 

AND - to represent the straight up contemp in me, I will also giveaway one copy of BEHIND THE SCENES by my fabulous CP, Dahlia Adler, AND a pre-order of my own book, LAST YEAR'S MISTAKE! (And if you don't win, there's still time to enter my very first ARC giveaway here!)

One random commenter will win all three. Looking forward to getting to know YOU!




Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Deets On The Great Postcard Selfie Giveaway!

Hi all!

So the last time I went through my manuscript, it looked a little something like this:


Kind of like a real book, right?

Well, that's because I've reached a point in this never-ending* process where it finally almost is! Eeee! And you know what the next step is when your book has been edited and copyedited and laid out and read and reread?

*slight exaggeration

ARCs and swag and promos, OH MY!

Now, I don't physically have ARCs just yet, but I did order my first piece of promotional material in the form of these beauties:

See where it says, "Your Name Here?" There's a reason for that.

And I've come up with a way to not only have these babies pop up in your mailbox, but also to give you the chance to turn it into your ticket for an ARC!

Here's what you'll need to do:

1) If you want a postcard, email me your address at gina(dot)ciocca(at)yahoo(dot)com

2) If you've received a postcard and want to redeem it for a shot at an ARCSnap a selfie of you and your postcard. Like so:





NO, it does not have to be of your face. I know some of us are camera shy, so fingers holding it are totally acceptable. Be creative. Just not Kim Kardashian kreative, 'kay? 
**Especially since I may repost them on this blog, please be sure to use a photo you're comfortable sharing**

3) Show me your selfie in one of three ways (or all three):
- Tweet it to @gmc511 on Twitter, using the hashtag #LYMSelfie

- Instagram it and tag me, gmciocca, and use the tag #LYMSelfie

- Post it to my Facebook author page, https://www.facebook.com/gmcioccabooks

- Bonus points if you include a sentence or two about why you're excited to read LAST YEAR'S MISTAKE

The contest will run until I've received my ARCs. One or two (depending on how many I get) random postcard recipients who shared their #LYMSelfie will win a galley for their advance reading pleasure.

** The contest is open internationally, but international slots are limited. I have 6 international postcard stamps left, so these will be given on a first come, first served basis. Once they're gone, the contest will be US only**

And the contest begins... NOW!!! Can't wait to see your #LYMSelfies!!!





And in case you forgot what it's all about, here is the Amazon synopsis again (Where, in case you don't win an ARC, the book


is totally available for pre-order):

Is there anything that electric chemistry can’t overcome? The past may be gone, but love has a way of holding on in this romantic debut novel told in alternating Before and After chapters.

The summer before freshman year, Kelsey and David became inseparable best friends—until the night a misunderstanding turned Kelsey into the school joke and everything around her crumbled, including her friendship with David. So when Kelsey’s parents decide to move away, she can’t wait to start over and leave the past behind. But David’s not quite ready to be left.

Now it’s senior year and Kelsey has a new group of friends, genuine popularity, and a hot boyfriend. Her life is perfect. That is, until David’s family moves to town. Old feelings bubble to the surface and threaten to destroy Kelsey’s second chance at happiness. The more time she spends with David, the more she realizes she never let him go. And maybe she never wants to…