Thank you to Cupid at Cupid’s Literary Connection for hosting the Blind Speed Dating Contest. Here’s my kissing scene entry.
 

THE PROPER WAY TO SAY GOODBYE
Contemporary YA

 
Setup: About 2/3 way through the story. Chloe (age 18) and Sasha (21) have just returned from visiting Chloe’s best friend, where she revealed for the first time (to anyone) that she is gay and that Sasha is her girlfriend. Now they are in Chloe’s room, and it’s the first time she will be sleeping in a bed with Sasha.
 

“Are you sure this is all right?” she asked. Her tank top hugged her breasts, both exciting and terrifying me. I needed new pajamas. Ratty t-shirts and shorts wouldn’t cut it anymore.
 
“Yes.”
 

“I promise to stay on my side.” Her grin reassured me, and she tugged the hair band off one of her braids. Then the second. She grabbed the braid to unwind it.

 
“Wait.” My mind spun a hundred different directions. Would she think I was weird?

 
She didn’t say a word as I scooted over—my knees barely touching her back. I took hold of one braid and slowly unwound it. Then the second. The scent of Sasha—her sweet peach lotion, filled my nose as I spread my fingers through her silky hair like I’d always wanted to. I could sit like this all night long but stopped, worried again she’d think I was strange.

 
Sasha twisted around and placed her hand on my cheek. Her fingers burned a tender trail down to my chin, and I wanted to freeze this moment, to gaze into her deep blue eyes forever.

 
Eyes that understood me. That accepted me. That wanted me.

 
Her hand gripped my neck, and her lips welcomed mine, making me feel like the only thing that mattered. Like I never wanted to breathe so I could just drink in her lips.

 
Sasha pulled back; her sigh resonated deep inside of me. Her fingers squeezed my knee, and even though she wore only a small smile, her eyes said she was feeling everything I was.

 
She turned away, but I didn’t want this to end. I pressed my body into hers, wrapping my arms around her waist and resting my chin on her shoulder.

 
Her smooth hands caressed mine. Those first days in class, I’d thought Sasha was perfect. She wasn’t. And I wasn’t either.

 
But this was… perfect.

 
“I love you, Chloe.”

 
Her words hung there, scaring me, but also filling me with a happiness I’d never known. I wanted this—her—more than anything, and I knew the words I would say were true.

 
“I love you too.”

 
That’s it. So go to Cupid’s site to see more entrants.

 
Thank you to Annalisa Crawford and Kyra Lennon for hosting the Imaginary Friends Bloghop.
 
They want to know about your imaginary friend. What were they called? How old were you? Were they naughty or nice? If you didn’t have one, were there ever times when you could have used one? Did you ever set fire to your mum’s favorite rug and have to take the blame yourself?
 
I did not have any imaginary friends growing up, so I’ll share another story. I don’t remember how old I was when this happened, but I may have been in jr. high. Or around there somewhere.
 
One day, my mom smelled something funny in the bathroom. From the closet. A place where bad smells do not usually originate. So she looked and discovered a Ziploc bag with a piece of stinky fish. It had been frozen at one time, but not anymore.
 

Imagine this, except 3 days after the ice melted.

Image courtesy of Piyachok Thawornmat / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 
Thank you to Stephen Tremp , C.M. Brown, Elise Fallson and Mark Koopmans for hosting this fun bloghop.
 
Here is what it’s about: An opportunity to re-introduce ourselves to the ever-expanding blogging community. Simply take a moment and tell us something interesting about yourself. Anything. It can be about writing. Or blogging. Or a hidden talent. Perhaps you’re in the Witness Protection Program. Feel free to keep your post short. This is meant to be a quick and fun Blogfest.
 
So…
 
My name is Suzi. Yes, my given name. (That seems to surprise a lot of people.)
 
Not Susan, Sue, Suzanne, Sue, Suz, or Suzie Q.
 
And if you call me one of the names from the above line, and you’re not a good friend or family, I’ll roll my eyes inwardly, because you weren’t paying attention when I told you my name.
 
But I won’t correct you.
 
My parents wanted to be different I guess, so they named me about the least used form of Suzi. (Others are Suzie, Suzy, Susie, Suze ) So that means that basically, I ALWAYS have to spell my name out because nobody gets it right.
 
Growing up, I probably only knew of a few other Suzi’s (and they were actually spelled differently.) I had none in my grade.
 
I used to hate it. I don’t anymore.
 
So what about you? Do you have a common or uncommon name? And do you like it?

“And You Are…?” Blog Hop hosted by Emily R. King and Tammy Theriault.

 
1. How many speeding tickets have you gotten?
Two of them-many years ago. And FYI: do not get a ticket in Minnesota, they’re expensive!
 
2. Can you pitch a tent?
Yes. The last time I did it was this summer with my son at Cub Scout camp.
 
3. What was your worst vacation ever?
I’ve never had a worst vacation. Maybe I blocked it out because it was so bad.
 
4. What was the last thing you bought over $100?
Single item. A laptop several months ago. But I don’t use it, my husband does. He didn’t like the three little lines running down the screen of our old one. They don’t bother me though.

 
5. We’re handing you the keys to what?
A 7 passenger crossover vehicle. Don’t have a specific brand yet, haven’t looked into it.
 
6. What was the last meal you cooked that made even you sick?
Stroganoff. Not because it was bad, because I ate too darn much. Tummy ache.
 
7. Fill in the blank: Oh my gosh! Becky, look at her butt! It is so big. She looks like a train.
 

8. What was your first car?
1987 Chevy Cavalier in 1991 (I think.) Had it for two whole months before someone rear-ended me and it was totaled. So I really consider my first car to be a 1987 Pontiac Sunbird, which I loved, and drove from 1991-1997.
 
9. Your best friend falls and gets hurt. Do you ask if he/she’s okay or laugh first?
Definitely ask. Unless she’s laughing.
 
10. What’s the worst song ever?
I have no absolute worst, but I heard this one today, before I wrote the post. Voices Carry by Til Tuesday. Really, I do not mind the song, except for the chorus. I can’t understand a word of the chorus and it’s repeated often. It’s annoying.
 
What I think the chorus lyrics are: Oh Josh, even out now, oh so scary. (no, that doesn’t make sense)
Actual lyrics: Hush, hush, keep it down now, voices carry
(Enunciate people!)
 
So thanks to Emily and Tammy for hosting this fun blog hop. And click on either of their names above to go to the list of other participants so you can go check their answers out too.

 
It’s Monday, November 12th. And that means it’s Captcha Craptcha Day.
 
Small Town Shelly Brown has designated today as as Captcha Craptcha Day along with her bloghop hosts, Jolene Perry, Randy Lindsay, and James Duckett.
 

 
So in honor of CCD (I didn’t want to write that out again), and to encourage others to shut this feature off on their blogs, we get to talk about why we hate captcha.
 
For those who don’t know, captcha is that little box that appears when you want to post a comment on a blog–word verification. It asks to type in the code to prove you’re not a robot. Which means a spammer. (Bloggers hate spammers, along with everyone else, except spammers themselves.)
 
But mostly captcha just annoys us regular people.
 
So these are my thoughts.
 
I hate captcha. Mostly because I always screw it up. Sometimes those letters are hard to read. I’m a good typist, really I am. So I don’t get how I do it wrong so often. A lot of times it takes one retype. But sometimes two. And every once in a while three.
 
I tried to listen to the audio once. That didn’t work well.
 
But I am not one of those people who gives up. So if you use captcha, I will still leave that comment, but I know others who won’t.
 
So do the whole blogging world a favor, and shut off captcha. Your readers will thank you! (Go to Shelly’s site above to get directions on how to do this.)
 
Oh, and don’t feel bad if you didn’t know what captcha meant, cause I didn’t know until just recently either.

Welcome to the Genre Favorites Blogfest hosted by Alex J. Cavanaugh. Check here to see all the participants.

Favorite Genre of Movie:
I’ve always loved a great horror flick, and had one friend in high school who watched them all with me. Freddy, Jason, Michael Myers… A few of my favorites from the early years include Children of the Corn and Hellraiser.

Favorite Genre of Music:
Wow. I’m not sure exactly what to say for this one because I don’t know exactly how to classify it. I suppose rock music. But alternative rock is probably mixed in. Lite rock too.

Favorite Genre of Books:
Definitely contemporary young adult. I wrote my first YA story, then starting reading others. Fell in love with it and now read it all the time. I still love thrillers, adult contemporary, and historical fiction, to name a few others.

Guilty pleasure:
I think taking the time to completely watch a good (mind numbing) slasher movie is something I rarely do. Usually I have the laptop and half watch, have do computer stuff. Sometimes it’s fun to laugh at the ridiculousness of the gore.

Now go to Alex’s site to check out some other people’s favorites.

Thank you to Deana Barnhart for organizing the Gearing Up To Get An Agent Blogfest. Check out her site for all the details.

Today is the pitch polish blog hop for those who did not get into the official one posted on Deana’s blog. I didn’t even submit mine because I didn’t have my revised edition ready, so I thought I’d try the blog hop instead.

Here is my entry.
Title: The Proper Way to Say Goodbye
Genre: Contemporary YA
Word Count: 72,000 words

Query

Only one person knew Chloe was gay, and his love and support disappeared when he hung himself.

Chloe starts her freshman year of college with two big secrets. She hides her sexuality, afraid it may affect her friendships and jeopardize her mother’s job, and tells nobody of her brother Brock’s suicide.

She is stunned to learn her crush, and teaching assistant Sasha, was friends with Brock. As their relationship deepens, Sasha reveals the reason behind Brock’s suicide, that he was sexually abused as a child. Chloe refuses to believe it, until she reads Brock’s journals. But even they don’t explain what pushed him over the edge, and she continues the search for the answer why.

After finding Brock’s last journal, she is consumed with his plan to take revenge on his molester. But Chloe’s obsession comes at a cost, and she might have to give up everything she’s ever wanted—her girlfriend, her best friend, and her sanity—in order to discover Brock’s final secret.

1st 150 words

The biggest thing I had in common with my older brother Brock was that we both liked girls. And he often reminded me of that fact. His whispers still invaded my mind two months after he committed suicide. It wasn’t really Brock talking. I didn’t need a therapist to tell me that, but sometimes his words comforted me. Other times they annoyed me.

I slouched in my chair during Freshman Composition, my first semester of college. I couldn’t take my eyes off Sasha. Her long blonde hair. The way her red lips moved. Her deep, sexy voice.

Sasha… Sasha… Sasha…

I’d do her, Brock said in my head. A surprise considering he preferred silly party girls over professional educated ones.

Shut up, I silenced him, the blush creeping into my face. Good thing she was my teacher, and I had to watch her. What would she do if she could hear my thoughts?

So that’s it. I’d appreciate any comments you may have. And here are the other blog hop participants.