The Covers Are LIVE and GUTGAA

The NEVERLOVE and GIVIN' UP THE GHOST covers are live at Partners in ParanarmYA.  Please go check it out and feel free to tell a friend or many friends.  The covers will be stopping here tomorrow.

The covers will be hopping around the blogosphere through the week.  Here's one place I spotted them at already:
Nadja Notariani

Gearing Up to Get and Agent (also referred to as GUTGAA) is underway.  Today we get our Meet and Greet on :-)

Who/What am I?

A mother to a rambunctious Chipmunk.
Dreamer of worlds that may or may not exist.
Lover of words, wordsmithing and chocolate.
Full-time employed gig-holder working to make my writing passion my all-the-time thing.
Author of NEVERLOVE that will be coming out in October 2012 as part of Partners in ParanormYA.
Embracer of various paths to publication and still unsure why there must be lines drawn in the sand.
A writer - whether published or not, this is who and what I am.

And on to the questions:

Where do you write? At my tiny little desk stuffed in my bedroom or on my bed.

Favorite time to write? Whenever I can, whether morning, lunch break or night...usually at night after I tuck the Chipmunk in for bed.

Drink of choice while writing?  Water.

When writing , do you listen to music or do you need complete silence?  I tend to need it quiet.  I'll start singing or humming along to the music and get distracted lol!!

What was your inspiration for your latest manuscript and where did you find it?  The Hunger Games.  I enjoyed the kill or be killed aspect of this novel, but I wondered, "What if there was a different reason the world got to an awful state and that reason was hidden because people just couldn't handle the truth?"  Of course, I have a hard time keeping paranormal elements from taking over my brain.  With MINGLED, it was no exception.

What's your most valuable writing tip?  Remember to up the stakes.  Tension is pivotal, no matter what your genre.  Without it, your conflict is little more than an air-slapping match between two scaredy-cats.  I always have to remind myself of this because my first drafts start out with this kind of air-slapping match going on.

So I'm curious, what would you consider a valuable writing tip?

P.S.  I hope everyone enjoys their Labor Day :-)