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Jacqueline Duczek
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Character Introduction: Logan Chang

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Today’s blog post is all about Ellie’s best friend and roommate, Logan!  Here are some things you should know about Logan Chang:

  1. Depending on how you define ‘generation’, Logan is either a first- or second-generation Canadian on his dad’s side.  Basically, Logan’s dad was born in China and immigrated to Canada as an adult where he met Logan’s mom. Logan can speak a decent amount of Mandarin but he has a harder time reading and writing it.  English is definitely his primary language. He struggled a lot with being biracial (Caucasian mom, Chinese dad) as a kid but now he loves it.

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Drawn Together: Chapter Two First Page

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Last week, I posted Drawn Together’s current first page, which is from Parker’s POV.  If you missed it, you can read it here. This week, I’m sharing Ellie’s first POV page, which is the beginning of chapter two.  Remember, this is only the second draft so things are likely to change but I hope you enjoy this look into Ellie’s life!

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Character Introduction: Missy Johnson

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Things you need to know about Missy Johnson:

1. Missy is the only other allo cishet character in the main cast besides Parker.  She’s also a blonde white girl with blue eyes of European descent with a Christian upbringing.  (Parker clearly has a type. :P) If you want a visual or like doing fancasts, imagine Natalie Dormer.

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Character Introduction: Ellie Simmons

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Things you need to know about Ellie Simmons:

1. Ellie is your basic cis white Canadian girl of European descent with a Christian upbringing.  She’s even got the whole ‘blue eyes, blonde hair’ thing going on. If you’re the kind of person that’s more visual or likes to do fancasts, picture AnnaSophia Robb.

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Drawn Together in AO3 Tags

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Today I wanted to tell you all a little about my WIP.  I figured since this is my author website and you’re all here because you eventually want to read a book I’ve written, it was about time.  However, instead of a summary or back cover copy like you would expect, I’m going to describe my book using AO3 tags.

My Time at When Words Collide

This past weekend, I went to When Words Collide, my first ever writers conference.  As I mentioned last week, I’ve been to conventions like Calgary and Edmonton Expo before so I had a general idea what to expect but nothing can truly prepare you for a conference that’s exclusively about writing.

Part 1: Why Writers Should Read Fanfiction

Tomorrow, I’m heading to When Words Collide, a writing conference/festival in Calgary.  It’ll be my first time going to an event exclusively about writing and I’m both nervous and excited.  I’ve gone to writing panels before at conventions like Calgary and Edmonton Expo but there’s usually only two or three and none of them have ever focused on romance novels.  This conference has over 200 panels dedicated to all aspects of researching, writing, editing, and publishing; I’m going to at least 20 of them; and at least five of those focus solely on writing romance.  I’m guaranteed to learn something new - even if it’s something small - at all of those panels. But writing panels and craft books and writing classes and novels aren’t how I’ve learned the most about writing.  It’s by reading fanfiction.

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On Twitter Pitch Contests and #CarinaPitch

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I’ve been working on my WIP, Drawn Together, off and on for about three years now and I’m still not finished the first draft.  That’s included at least three false starts that involved scrapping over 25k words, months on end without writing at all, desperately misjudging how long my first draft would be, and all kinds of other things that have slowed me down.  But recently, one thing happened that has made all of the suffering - the mental health breakdowns, the imposter syndrome, the crushing self-doubt - worth it. A Twitter pitch contest.

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