Author Michelle McLean

Friday Funnies

2012-01-27T07:58:00.000-05:00

Submission Calls

2012-01-26T12:10:00.000-05:00

Looking for a place to send your unagented short story or novel? I've got a list with a few publishers with open calls out over at Operation Awesome today. Check it out! :)

Blog Chain - What Makes You Feel?

2012-01-25T16:00:00.001-05:00

Today's Blog Chain topic was chosen by the lovely Kate, who wants to know what inspires us. Her instructions:

Post pictures, songs, movie clips, poems, or novel excerpts that make you feel. Feel what, you ask? Feel anything. Happy. Sad. Angry. Nostalgic. Hopeful. Hopeless. Jealous. Joyful.

I have read in several different places that YA novelist John Green said of his latest novel, The Fault In Our Stars that he wants to make his readers "Feel All The Things." I would love that someone could go through this blog chain and through what we all choose to post have that same Feel All The Things feeling.

For me, music is what make me feel the most. A good, peppy song can instantly put me in a great mood. And I always listen to music to get me in the writing mood. Especially for those really intense scenes. When I need to really "feel" I usually turn to Rob Dougan, Evanescence, E.S. Posthumous, Apocalyptica, Chopin and other classical masters. Here are a few of my favorites :)

The Apocalyptica videos wouldn't embed, but any of their songs, espeically Bittersweet and Not Strong Enough I absolutely love - go listen! :D And be sure to check out PK's post from yesterday and Tere's tomorrow :)

Friday Funnies

2012-01-20T10:07:00.000-05:00

Guess what I finally woke up to today? :D Happy Friday!!

What Do You Do?

2012-01-17T08:48:00.000-05:00

So...I'm feeling the need to streamline, cut down on things, simplify. I have a website - well, 3 actually (one for me and the two pen names I was considering - just in case I needed them :) ). But I don't do anything with them. Everything is pretty much on my blog anyway and more people come to my blog. Soooo, I'm thinking I might just combine everything over here instead of trying to maintain different sites.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you guys have separate sites or do you just keep everything in one spot?

Friday the 13th Funnies

2012-01-13T11:19:00.000-05:00

Happy Friday the 13th!

Well, my 1 week hiatus turned into a 2 week hiatus...and was almost a 3 weeker :D I hope everyone was healthy, happy, and productive! I...wasn't (productive that is) LOL. But I'm hoping to remedy that soon. :) In the meantime, have a few funny kitties on this cold, snowy Friday the 13th :)

Blog Chain - Childhood Memories

2012-01-04T07:00:00.022-05:00

We interrupt this unplugged week to bring you a prescheduled blog chain post :D It's the first chain of the New Year!! And the awesome Jon picked our first topic.

Now, as I mentioned, I did this post a bit early so I could get it scheduled before Family Week of Awesome hit, so I won't have the exact wording or instructions, but essentially, he wanted us to draw the layout of one of our childhood homes. As we form the walls, doors, and angles of that house, memories will surface and he wants us to turn that memory into a story.

When I began to focus on my childhood homes, it was incredibly interesting to me that what stood out in my mind the most was the placement of the bookshelves in our houses. The one in my mom’s room where I found the Laura Ingalls Wilder series, the Clan of the Cave Bears, and the Victoria Holt books that I love so much. My dad’s office with the entire back wall covered in bookshelves or the house in TN where the living room had an entire wall of shelves. I’d sit for hours in both places with a stack of encyclopedia’s by my side.

One of my earliest memories is opening a box full of books and tapes on Christmas. And I vividly remember lying on my stomach listening to the tape read the story as I followed along. I think I was 2 when I got those.

So, though this is cheating a tad (I don’t feel guilty as I am on my way out of town and doing this a little early so I don’t know the exact rules…and am short on time) :D this is something I wrote about my love of books and research a few years ago for a creative non-fiction class. Because, it seems, my life has always revolved around my beloved books :)

~~

I walk in, take a deep breath, and immediately relax in the comforting quiet. My eyes scan the familiar surroundings for the aisle I need and I begin to wander. Every now and then I’ll stop, take a volume off the bookshelf, and leaf through the pages. The unmistakable smell of “book” rises up to meet me. It’s unique, a musty mixture of ink and stale paper. I make sure the volume I’m holding contains what I may need; then I move on.

My excitement builds as I discover each new text. Sometime I get lost in the passages I find. Time slows as I stand sandwiched between narrow shelves, tying to juggle the books I’m holding and the book I’m reading. Occasionally I give up and just sit on the floor, the chosen work in my lap. I stop only when another patron drifts by, subtly clearing his throat to get my attention. I fill my arms with as many books as I can carry and find a nice, quiet spot to begin my search.

~~

Abby comes after me so be sure to head to her blog tomorrow to see how her childhood shaped out :)

Happy New Years Sat Funnies

2011-12-31T09:33:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year!!! And a very happy birthday to my awesome Dad :) May 2012 be filled with productivity, health, and happiness for everyone :) I am taking an unplugged week next week as I'll be spending time with my family *squeeeesoexcited* I hope to see much progress from everyone when I get back :D And yeah, that goes for me too LOL

Resolved to be Resolute

2011-12-27T10:20:00.000-05:00

Well, we are one week away from New Year's - which means...resolution time *dun dun duuunnnn* (and yes, we are still a week away but I'll be out of town next week so I figured I'd start thinking early :D )

I'm trying to keep it simple this year. I have generally tossed my resolutions out the window by midnight of the 1st...sometimes sooner :D So for this year, I'm going pick one simple thing that I should be able to stick to. One thing that should make everything else easier to accomplish.

Use my time wisely - I fritter away a lot of time. And I will continue to fritter away lots of time. BUT I will try to do so less :) There are things I want to get done and that just isn't going to happen if I don't get on the ball.

The two main goals I have for this year are to keep up with the house, and to WRITE - even if it's a sentence a day, I want, I NEED, to write. So many things I want to accomplish but if everything stays locked up tight in my head it's not doing anyone any good...especially me. :) And both of these are more than doable if I just use the time I have wisely.

There are lots of other things I want to do....lose weight (as always), be a better mom and wife, learn a couple new languages, organize my house from top to bottom, read lots and lots, finish my cross stitching projects, and a million more things. But I'm hoping if I focus on just that one thing, everything else will follow.

What are your writerly resolutions for next year?

Friday Funnies

2011-12-23T07:00:00.007-05:00

A Writer's Christmas

2011-12-20T11:51:00.001-05:00

I think I'm probably a hard person to shop for. My poor husband doesn't want to give me a gift card every year but he knows my first response when he asks me what I want for Christmas is going to be - books :D

So this year I made him a list. It includes:

A gift card for books - because really, as boring as he might think this is, it ROCKS
Office supplies - again, he might snooze, but man does my little heart go pitter-pat when I get my hands on a bunch of new pens and post its and notebooks oooo and especially organizational stuff like binders and bins and cork boards and those really pretty push pins and paper clips and....well you get the point :D
Computer software - I specifically asked for Scrivener and that software that will read your manuscript to you
Music - I asked for some specifics (Apocalyptica, Chopin, Evanescence...my typical mood setting stuff) :)
Aqua Notes - have you seen these things?! It's a notepad you hang IN YOUR SHOWER. I get probably 80% of my awesome ideas and epiphanies in the shower and I forget about 80% of those before I get out of the shower. NO MORE! If I find these in my stocking I can write down those awesome ideas before they go down the drain :D (p.s. saw these first on Stina's blog - she's got a great Xmas list for writers going to - check it out!)
I used to ask for uninterrupted writing time :D but with both my kidlets in school full time now, I can write while they are gone during the day. But this is a great gift for writers who have to squeeze their writing time in between jobs and/or kids or other obligations.

What is on your writer's wish list this year?

Friday Funnies

2011-12-16T16:30:00.000-05:00

You Tell Me....

2011-12-14T11:21:00.000-05:00

What is your preferred form of social networking?

I am stunned to admit this, but mine is quickly becoming Facebook and Twitter. For one very simple reason: they are QUICK.

I can get on one of them, post a quick status update, see how my peeps are doing, and keep on with the rest of my day. I can follow new people and new people can follow me quickly and easily. Heck, FB and Twitter even post suggestions of people for me to follow and with one quick click, and no opening new tabs, I'm following or being followed.

I still love blogging - I love posting and reading others' posts. But blogging takes so much time...time that I am finding I have less and less of.

So tell me....what is your favorite form?

Friday Funnies

2011-12-09T10:17:00.000-05:00

Expectations vs. Reality

2011-12-06T09:03:00.000-05:00

I always wish there was some sort of device that I could hook up to my head, that would translate all the images up there into words. Because seriously, one of the most frustrating parts of writing for me is trying to get what's in my head onto paper. It either doesn't come out right or takes too long to get down or just doesn't live up to my expectations.

When I first started "seriously" writing, I was living under the dreadful misconception that all I needed to do was sit down and write and I'd be done. I knew, of course, that there would be revisions. But I thought of those more as just checking for typos and grammar mistakes. I had NO idea the work involved in crafting a real, publishable book. I had no idea that the REAL work on a book happens after you get that first draft down.

So I was a bit surprised when I sent my manuscript off to my first crit group and realized that it looked more like picture B up there than picture A :D

Now, when revisions get tough, I just try to remind myself that my manuscripts can and will be like the perfect vision I expect...but they will most likely start out like the reality snowman up there and will take a lot of work to make them awesome :) The important thing is that I keep crafting and sculpting until I get there. Because if I give up halfway through, my poor manuscript will always look like Frosty on a bad day :D

Do your expectations ever live up to reality? What do you do when they don't?

Friday Funnies

2011-12-02T10:13:00.000-05:00

Operation Awesome Mystery Agent Contest Today!!

2011-12-01T09:51:00.000-05:00

Head over and enter your one line pitch - prizes are a full or partial request or a query crit!

NaNo Wins Again...

2011-11-29T09:15:00.000-05:00

Ahhh NaNo, how I hate thee, let me count the ways.....

:D

Seriously, I don't know why I try. I think I must have some subconscious aversion to this activity. Last month, I wrote almost 40,000 words without really trying that hard. I'd write anywhere from 1000 to 7000 words a day. This month....I maybe managed about 10% of that.

And now that NaNo is just about over, with the last day looming tomorrow, my motivation to write has jumped into overdrive and I can't WAIT to get to my manuscript. I already have my file open and am forcing myself to go get dressed and write this post before I dive in.

I find this odd...Maybe I'm allergic to NaNo :D

Ah well, I guess as long as the words get written that's all that matters. But I don't know that I'll be attempting NaNo again. I seem to do much better when I don't put a label on my productivity :D

How did everyone else do?

Mystery Agent Contest Heads UP :D

2011-11-28T10:28:00.000-05:00

We have another Operation Awesome Mystery Agent contest coming up on Thursday Dec 1st!! This time we are looking for ONE SENTENCE PITCHES.

Genres:

Fiction - pretty much any and all commercial fiction, but especially: science fiction and fantasy (and all subgenres), high-concept women’s fiction, contemporary and historical romances, cozy mysteries, and young adult books, including sci-fi and fantasy.

No MG or picture books.

Non-fiction - popular mathematics, popular science, and spirituality, especially church history and philosophy (but not for the Christian market).So get those one sentence pitches polished up and head over here bright and early Thursday morning! The contest will open at 9 am EST and will go till we hit 50 eligible entries.

See you Thursday!!

Unplugged Week

2011-11-22T09:27:00.000-05:00

Hello my lovelies. All right, I'm taking an unplugged week this week. For several reasons. 1. I keep forgetting to post LOL 2. My kids are home all this week, which is probably why I keep forgetting to post. I keep thinking it's Saturday.... 3. It's Thanksgiving this week *yummmm pie* and 4. My birthday is on Friday :D

So! I hope everyone out there has a wonderful Thanksgiving and all you Nanoers out there - write on!!!!

Friday Funnies - Twilight Edition

2011-11-18T11:18:00.000-05:00

Okay, I'm a huge Twilight fan, not gonna lie. But I do find all the Twilight funnies hilarious :D And since Breaking Dawn just opened, I thought we'd have a little Twilight fun today :D Happy Friday!!

Movie Trailers of Awesome :D

2011-11-16T10:33:00.000-05:00

Here's a little glimpse of what keeps distracting me from my ever-failing Nano word count :D

These two I'm looking forward to for different reasons. 1 looks epically awesome, dark, edgy. The other looks funny and entertaining. Can't wait to see them :DWhat is your favorite book to movie adaptation? Which are you looking forward to?

Winner of BECOME by Ali Cross

2011-11-15T08:22:00.001-05:00

And our winner is.......

Mercedes (aka abrokenlaptop.com)!!!!!

Congrats!! Shoot me an email (addy on the sidebar) with your address, be sure to tell me if you'd like the ebook or paperback, and I'll get your copy sent out to you.

Don't forget! You have TONS more chances to win! See yesterday's post (below) or Elana's blog for the full schedule. Thanks for entering and helping us celebrate Ali's book release!

Become by Ali Cross - Giveaway of Epicness :D

2011-11-14T08:37:00.003-05:00

I am so excited to be a part of this awesomely fun giveaway :D In celebration of the release of BECOME, you will have 15 chances to win a copy of Ali's brand new book. That's right...I said 15 chances!

Here is what you'll be winning:

Sixteen-year old Desolation Black wants nothing more than to stay in Hell where it’s cold and lonely and totally predictable. Instead, she’s sent back to Earth where she must face the evil she despises and the good she always feared. When Desi is forced to embrace her inner demon, she assumes her choice has been made—that she has no hope of being anything other than what her father, Lucifer, has created her to be. What she doesn’t count on, is finding a reason to change—something she’s never had before—a friend.

Now how awesome does that book sound? :D And gorgeous cover love!!!

To enter for your first chance to win a copy of this book (your choice of Kindle book or paperback) all you have to do is leave a comment on this post. I will announce the winner tomorrow morning.

And stay tuned for your other 14 chances to win a copy!! Here is the schedule:

5 chances on blogs according to the following schedule:
Monday: Right here, right now! :D
Tuesday: Sara Larson
Wednesday: Stacy Henrie
Thursday: LT Elliot
Friday: Nichole Giles

5 chances on twitter according to the following schedule:
Monday, November 14 - 11 am MST, 1 pm Eastern
Tuesday, November 15 - 7 pm MST, 9 pm Eastern
Wednesday, November 16 - 1 pm MST, 3 pm Eastern
Thursday, November 17 - 4 pm PST, 7 pm Eastern
Friday, November 18 - 3 pm MST, 5 pm Eastern

We'll be chatting with the hashtag #BECOME so join us for your chance to mix and mingle and win!

And 5 chances through the google form found on the awesome Elana Johnson's blog.

If you'd like to purchase a copy, you can do so HERE for the Kindle version and HERE for the paperback.

So come celebrate with us!! Leave a comment below and follow the links for more chances to win! Congrats Ali on an incredible accomplishment and amazing book! :)

(The comments feature wasn't working earlier this morning but it is working now! Comment away!)

Blog Chain - Accomplishments

2011-11-11T07:00:00.000-05:00

Blog chain time! Check out PK's post from yesterday and head over to Tere's tomorrow. This round's topic was chosen by the lovely Michelle Hickman who wants to know:

This is the month in creating writing goals and making big accomplishments. What is your greatest accomplishment -- in writing, your life or perhaps something incidental that had a big effect on you?

This is such a great question. In my writing life, my biggest accomplishment is that I made my dream come true. I have a published book on the shelves. And while fiction is always nearest and dearest to my heart and a goal I'm still working to obtain, I gotta say I LOVE that my first published book is one geared toward helping people with something I love - writing.

In my personal life...one of my biggest accomplishments was getting my master's degree. It was hard lol Especially because when I got it I was a mommy to two very small children who had a husband that was gone for weeks at a time. I'm still not sure how I pulled it off - but I'm extremely proud that I did :)

And in my even more personal life - the fact that I somehow managed to bring two amazing kids into the world and haven't killed, seriously maimed or in any other way caused permanent mental or physical damage (that I know of) to any of us yet...though we've had some close calls :D My kids are a handful, but they are intelligent, hilariously funny, thoughtful, sweet and genuinely loving kids - it feels weird to call them an accomplishment, but I just don't think anything else in my life will ever come close to the pride I feel in those two amazing little human beings :) I am awed and blessed to be their mother.

What are your greatest accomplishments, in the writing world or in your personal life?

And - Happy Veterans Day.

My deep, heartfelt thanks to those who make it possible for me to live the life I want to live.

Update:

2011-11-09T11:07:00.000-05:00

Nano is kicking my butt...

That is all:D

How is everyone else doing on Nano or other projects?

Fairy Tale Explosion - You Tell Me...

2011-11-07T08:41:00.000-05:00

While I was enjoying Grimm and Once Upon a Time this weekend, and looking forward to the two new Snow White movies and browsing through all the fairy tale retellings that are out in book form, I paused for a moment to marvel at everyone gettin' their fairy tale on lately.

Now, I'm loving it. I'm a HUGE fairy tale nerd. I've got more fairy tale books then you can shake a stick at and I keep buying more (I say they are for my kids but...yeah...not so much) ;-) I love the originals, the Disney versions, the tales from other cultures, the new tellings, the old tellings. I love them ALL. I'd love to write my own retelling and even started doing so several times (but shelved them for various reasons).

But it's got me curious. Why do you think there has been such a fairy tale explosion lately?

Friday Funnies

2011-11-04T11:30:00.000-04:00

Nano Update:

Ugh, I'm behind I know. But not by much - gonna catch up this weekend! If I can stay awake. I've been ridiculously tired lately. Zzzzzzzzzz

How are you all doing? Have an awesome weekend!

Don't Play Hard to Get

2011-11-02T09:15:00.001-04:00

Well we had a bit of a snafu with the Mystery Agent contest at Operation Awesome yesterday. Several people went over on the character limit for their entries. Wanting to give them a chance to change their entries so they wouldn't be disqualified, we decided to email those affected.

There was one slight problem - there were several people I couldn't find email addresses for. Not on their blogs, their websites...nowhere.

Some of them had twitter handles so I was able to tweet them. Some had contact forms which worked fine. And some I just posted on their blogs for lack of any other way of communicating with them. There was one person I couldn't find anything for...their profile didn't have blog links, website links, email or twitter addresses or any other sort of identifying or contact info. So, I wasn't able to let them know about the problem.

Here's the thing about social networking - it only works if people can communicate with you. Why make it hard? You should have contact info plastered EVERYWHERE. I went on some sites where I had to search for the person's name just to make sure I was in the right spot. This just makes no sense to me.

You want people to know who you are. PUT YOUR NAME SOMEWHERE PROMINENT. You want people to be able to contact you. MAKE IT EASY TO FIND. You want people to be able to find you wherever you might be on the web. PUT UP LINKS.

The whole point of social networking is to connect with people, so people know who you are, where to find you, and how to contact you. Agents and editors DO go to sites. I actually very recently had an editor find me on Twitter and tweet me about a project. I ended up being able to submit a manuscript to a publisher that is currently closed to submissions. Because of TWITTER. It does happen.

That never would have happened had that editor not been able to find any contact info for me.

Moral of the story = DON'T PLAY HARD TO GET.

Make sure your contact info and links to places where you can be found are EVERYWHERE and easy to see. I have my email addy and links to all the sites I'm on plastered all over every website, blog, and social network I own or belong to. Just make sure that people have a way to easily communicate with you - it might come in handy some day :)

Nano Update:

Ready.....Set.....

2011-10-31T10:05:00.001-04:00

NANO!!!

Yes, once again I'm going to attempt this. I think this is my fourth year. I've never actually finished. However, I've always had a really good excuse :D The first two years I ended up moving right in the middle of November and last year I was in the middle of final edits and book release prep for Homework Helpers. This year though, I don't have any such excuse. So I'd better not botch it :D

I've got my Nano calendar wallpaper up, my potato word count guy all ready to go

my projects outlined and ready (yes, I said projectS. I'm cheating a little. I'm halfway through 2 WIPs and the plan is to finish them both by Nov 30th :D )

Are you doing Nano? If so, come be my buddy! I'm michellemclean over on the site :) I'm also posting over on Pots & Pens today with a fun interview with Sandra Ulbrich Almazan and one of my favorite recipes, Chocolate Cake in a Cup - a perfect Nano treat :D

Oh - and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Interview with Lyon's Legacy Author Sandra Ulbrich Almazan

2011-10-30T07:00:00.041-04:00

I had the pleasure recently of reading Sandra's novella, Lyon's Legacy. I posted a review of it at Operation Awesome yesterday, so go check that out if you haven't yet. For today, the lovely Sandra was kind enough to answer some questions for me :)

Sometimes being a geneticist isn’t enough to understand your family....

When scientist-in-training Joanna Lyon learns her rich uncle plans to have their rock legend ancestor, Sean Lyon, cloned, she’s disgusted. Uncle Jack pushed her into music when she was younger, and she hated it. So it’s particularly galling that he wants her to travel through a wormhole to an alternate universe and sample Sean’s DNA. She only agrees to go so she can secretly sabotage the project. But meeting Sean forces her to re-examine her feelings about her family, including her estranged father. Can she protect the unborn clone from her uncle, and will she have to sacrifice her career and new-found love to do so?

MM: Give us the Twitter pitch :) What’s your book about in 140 characters or less?

SUA: A geneticist is sent by her uncle to an alternate TwenCen universe to clone the rock star she hates—her ancestor.

MM: What inspired the story behind Lyon’s Legacy?

SUA: It was inspired by a friend’s story about a woman who heard the Beatles perform in the Cavern, a club in Liverpool where they performed many times before they became famous. I wanted to add a science-fiction twist to that, so I came up with the idea of a time traveler going back to the past to listen to a concert by a famous musician. I asked myself who she was, why she was there, and how she got there, and eventually I came up with Joanna, sent on a mission to get DNA and clone the musician. Instead of using the Beatles, I created a single musician who lived in Chicago in the early sixites to be Joanna’s great-grandfather, the man she’s supposed to help clone.

MM: What was the hardest part about writing this book?

SUA: The overall plot has been pretty much the same from draft to draft, but I did wind up changing some of the characters and the settings. Probably one of the more difficult things about writing this book was making sure the changes were consistent throughout the story. Another tough thing was figuring out what to do with this story. The story felt complete at novella length, but it’s tough finding markets for novellas. For a long time, I packaged this story with the sequel, which is a full-length novel in itself, but that was then too long. Publishing this as an e-book was a great solution for me, since word count isn’t so critical.

MM: What were the challenges you faced in writing this book?

SUA: I had to research many different things for this book, including plausible methods for time travel, spaceship design, 1960s Chicago, and fertility treatments.

MM: What books have influenced you the most in your life and writing?

SUA: In life, I would have to say Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. On one level, it’s the story of a man on a cross-country trip with his son, but on another level it examines the philosophy of science and the importance of Quality and gumption. For writing, it would be the Writers Digest series of books. They cover everything from Characters and Viewpoint to Plot to Scene and Structure.

MM: What is next for you? Can you share a bit about current and/or future projects?

SUA: I’m currently juggling several projects. I have two projects in the revision stage: a fantasy standalone novella called “The Fighting Roses of Sharon” and Twinned Universes, the sequel to Lyon’s Legacy. I’m currently drafting a fantasy novel called Scattered Seasons.

MM: Fast Fun Five:

Sweet or salty? Sweet!
Panster or plotter? More of a panster, but working on my plotting.
Ocean or mountains? Mountains.
Morning person or night owl? Night owl.
Shoes or bare feet? Shoes for medical reasons, unfortunately.

Thanks so much for joining us today, Sandra!

For more information on Sandra or to purchase her book, check out the links below :)

Amazon
Barnes & Noble

Smashwords

Sandra's blog

Blog Chain - Monster Mash

2011-10-29T07:00:00.053-04:00

Matt got to choose this round's topic, and he came up with a fun one :D

What is your all-time favorite monster?

At first glance, this seems like an easy question. But it really wasn't LOL See, I have different favorite monsters for all occasions. If I'm going to go with what has scared me the most for the longest amount of time, I'd probably have to say ghosts.

I reserve the right to change my mind should something more terrifying show up, but I tend to be really freaked out by things that I can't see. I mean, a big ol' yeti or something might scare my hair white, but at least I can see it coming at me. Plus, I'm pretty sure the other monsters don't exist (or if they do, they aren't bugging me). But I live in a very, very old house next to a 200 yr old cemetery and sometimes....well, let's just say weird things happen. And weird things have happened to other people I know. So...yeah...*shudder*

The monster to scare me most recently - Skinwalkers. This one is courtesy of the lovely Bethany Wiggins who regaled me with tales of these terrifying creatures while she was writing her book Shifting. Add to that the fact that we lived in the region where these creatures live, there were many locals who claimed to have seen them (and not just superstitious grannies...I'm talking big, burly oil workers who refused to drive down certain stretches of road because the last time they did something they thought was a man dropped to all fours and loped along beside their car...that was doing 40+ miles an hour), and the fact that I lived out in the middle of nowhere and my husband was frequently out of town for work (and Bethany liked to tell me that every noise I heard was probably a skinwalker LOL) - and yeah....*shudder*

Then there are the monsters of the cute, cuddly variety. The ones that make you say awwww more often than AHHH!!! Like these two:

But, I guess if I'm going to pick my all time favorite, my "go-to" monster, the one I've got dozens of books and movies on, I'm going to have to go with the vampire. I even took a class on vampires in grad school (and wrote a paper called "From Van Helsing to Buffy". It rocked, if I do say so myself) ;-) It was so much fun :D Vampires are seriously cool though. I mean they run the gambit from terrifying undead monsters to these handsome hotties:

Gotta love the versatility. Just sayin' ;-)

What is your favorite monster?

Be sure to head over to PK's blog to see what creature she most loves and stay tuned tomorrow to find out what's hiding in Tere's closet :D

Friday Funnies

2011-10-28T10:15:00.000-04:00

Nanowrimo jokes were found on Danyelle Ferguson's blog - they were written by her husband. To check out her blog and/or see the original post, Click HERE.

"Knock Knock"
"Who's there?"
"Write"
"Write who?"
"Write"
"Uhm, yeah. You already said that. Write who?"
"Write"
"Whatever."
"Exactly, write whatever."

A salesman walked up to a Nanowrimo participant's house and rang the doorbell. No one answered.

A Nanowrimo participant and her daughter were out trick or treating. A man opened the door and said to the little girl, "What are you supposed to be?"
"A ballerina," she said as she twirled in a circle. He dropped a piece of candy in her bag.
"And what are you supposed to be?" he asked the older woman who was wearing vampire teeth, had quotes pinned to her shirt, and was carrying a dictionary.
"I'm the Word Count," the woman said with a thick, fake accent.
"Aren't you a little old to be trick or treating?"
"Probably, but I'm going to need all the chocolate I can get."

Question: Three people were sitting at the library with their laptops. The first was typing away furiously the screen filling with words, many of them with red, squiggly lines underneath them. The second glared at a mostly blank screen with bloodshot eyes. The third typed a few words, then got up and browsed the shelves for a long time before returning and typing a few more words. Which one is the true Nano participant?

Answer: All of them.

Coolest Punctuation Marks EVER

2011-10-27T09:15:00.000-04:00

I saw this link on Facebook and had to share. Some of these are really cool....like the interrobang, and the question comma and exclamation comma - seriously, I LOVE these, I'd use them all the time :D Someone needs to add them to a keyboard lol

http://www.buzzfeed.com/expresident/13-punctuation-marks-that-you-never-knew-existed

My Internal Editor Needs to Shush

2011-10-26T09:27:00.000-04:00

So yesterday I clicked on my blog only to discover that I hadn't posted since Friday. Somehow I had completely forgotten to post on Monday. Not sure how that happened *oops* I hope everyone has been happy, healthy and productive in the meantime :D

Yesterday I also realized that Nano is in 6 days. S.I.X. DAYS. How did that happen? Where did October go?!

I had a pretty lofty goal for October. I was going to finish my current WIP so when Nano hit I could work on a new one. If I could pull it off, it would mean two finished books by the end of the year. I've done pretty well...but my current WIP is nowhere close to being finished.

However, before October 1st, it wasn't even started. I hadn't worked on new material in a very long time so I am proud of the work I've accomplished.

Here's my problem...I can't shut off my internal editor. And it's driving me nuts :)

I know this book has issues. It's complicated. It's partial verse and the genre has morphed from urban fantasy into what I can really only call Sci Fi (maybe light SciFi, but still). It's a genre I haven't written before and it's something that requires research (which I'm more than happy to do) but all of that combines to make that pesky editor in me sit up and scream about every 5 seconds because I know there are sections that need to be rearranged or expanded or researched better or cut or any number of combinations of the above.

The poems in the story also take quite a bit of time as I'm trying to fit the story I need each of these poems to tell into the story as a whole and still stay within the structure and rules of each form.

So...yeah...it's complicated LOL But what I need to do, and what I am trying VERY hard to do, it just to write. Just to get that basic first draft story OUT. And then I can go back and fix what needs fixing.

Anyone have an internal editor muzzle? :D Does your internal editor slow down your first draft writage? And who's doing Nano?! :D I'm getting ready to break out my little potato guy word counter. I love that spud :)

Friday Funnies

2011-10-21T09:00:00.000-04:00

There is no rule on how to write. Sometimes it comes easily and perfectly: sometimes it's like drilling rock and then blasting it out with charges.

— Ernest Hemingway

How do I know what I think, until I see what I say?

— WH Auden

Blog Chain - People I Couldn't Write Without

2011-10-18T07:00:00.090-04:00

This topic was chosen by the lovely Sarah who wanted to know:

Do you work with critique partners? How did you find your crit pals, and what influence have they had on your work?

Oh yes. I have crit partners. Probably too many LOL but I've met so many awesome writers over the years and we pretty much all exchange manuscripts at least once in a while.

My very first group I found by googling. I met some great people on there, learned a TON. I was a very VERY newbie writer. Had finished one book, paid an editor to go through it, gotten a few good suggestions from him, but it wasn't until this group (and one awesome lady in particular, Jeannie Ruesch) got a hold of it that I actually started pulling that poor manuscript together.

I can't believe how much she taught me. Stuff I'd never heard before. The adverb rule, POV tricks/rules/no-nos, ways to show different sides to my character - for all those who have read Treasured Lies, the pea scene was suggested by Jeannie. If she hadn't taken me under her wing, I don't know where I would be right now. I think I've mentioned before that I once wrote a scene where I had FOUR povs going on in ONE paragraph. Yeah...Jeannie was the one who explained why that was bad LOL

My other critters I met through QueryTracker. Toni Wilson (we are often called the eTwins by our QT friends) - I send everything to her. I mean literally everything. She often crits my emails before I send them LOL

Kristal Shaff and Cole Gibsen - again, these amazing women read pretty much everything I write. And I've learned so much from each of them. They are all awesome with things like plot flow, word choice, motivations, plot holes (and Kristal and Toni in particular are great at pointing out when I'm going overboard on the romance LOL). These women ready all my stuff and they are so incredibly sweet about reading my pages over and over again. I think they know my stories more than I do sometimes LOL

I met Elana Johnson through QT and joined a crit group with her and the absolutely wonderful Christine Fonseca. Elana is amazing - she will tell you how it is and she doesn't let you get away with anything. I usually get my pages back thinking "yeah, I knew she'd mark that." :D I'm slowly learning to just remove it before she has to mark it up LOL

Christine is amazing with emotions - I can go way overboard with them sometimes...and sometimes I don't have enough. She keeps me on track with my plot and characters and their motivations and personalities. She is also a fellow Non-fiction writer and is my main critter for all things NF (though Toni reads some of that stuff for me as well) :) It's so wonderful to have someone I can send those pages too. I don't know what I'd do without her.

And I also have my amazing Operation Awesome gals. I joined their group not too long ago (actually...I think it's been a year or so now!) It's been wonderful having a fresh group of eyes and learning from each of them - both from their crits of my work and from my crits of their work. They are an incredible group of women and I am so lucky to be a part of their group.

When I lived in Utah I was very privileged to be part of a live group with Bethany Wiggins and Bonny Anderson. I still send them pages and am always thrilled to read theirs, though I miss seeing them face-to-face :)

I have several other friends and readers that I send my pages too. They are all priceless to me. I would never be able to make it down this road without them.

Who are your critters and how did you meet them?

Be sure to see who PK shreds paper with and stop by Tere's tomorrow to find out about her crit pals :)

And the winner of Shifting is....

2011-10-17T07:00:00.006-04:00

Anne N. Kenny!!!!

Shoot me an email at authormichellemclean (at) yahoo (dot) com and I will get your SIGNED copy of Shifting sent out :D

Congrats and thanks for entering everyone!!!

Friday Funnies

2011-10-14T07:26:00.000-04:00

WIP Wednesday

2011-10-12T09:37:00.000-04:00

First off - Happy Birthday to my awesome stepson!! He's 21 today, which is blowing my mind. When I married his father he was this adorable freckle-faced little 10 year old :) Now he towers above all of us and has turned into a wonderful young man. :)

Now....in writing news - things went wonky LOL I'm rewriting a novel I wrote a few years ago (as I've told you before). Revisions have been going very well. Then I realized that while they were going well for the OLD storyline, I was getting way off track for the NEW storyline. Not that anything was horrible, and I'd added quite a few new tidbits. But I was 100 pages in and the real crux of the new stuff hadn't really started yet and was bogged down in all this stuff that, while I liked it and it worked well for the other story, was pretty irrelevant to the new story.

I always block out my scenes on post its and put them up on my cork board during revisions, so I can see what I have and more easily determine what needs to change. But for this problem, those didn't really help.

So...I typed up a little mini synopsis for each chapter, printed it out, put it on my cork board, and started rearranging and cutting. It was kind of fun. I had my tape, scissors, red pen, and push pins all laid out. I cut one entire chapter and took another one, cut a few bits out of it and taped them into the synopsi (?) for 2 other chapters...and got rid of the rest of that one. Then I moved a few chapters around so their content fit the flow of the story better.

And then I took all that, made a new little synopsis for each chapter on a post it (one for each chapter), put those on my main cork board, opened my files and went to town. It probably sounds more complicated than it was LOL But it worked great! I'm a very visual and hands-on person. If I can see it and DO it (as opposed to just reading it) I can work things out much quicker.

So, I am now well on my way to getting this puppy where it needs to be :)

Do you have any special little tricks like this that help you when it comes to revisions?

Kick A** 2011 Debut Author Spotlight - Bethany Wiggins and Shifting!

2011-10-10T07:30:00.018-04:00

When the fabulous Christina Lee approached me to participate in today's Kick A** 2011 Debut Author Spotlight day I jumped at the chance. There are so many incredible books out this year, but of course, the timing was just perfect for me to spotlight my amazing friend Bethany Wiggins and her book Shifting.

Now, I already told you all the details on it and I'll repost the blurb and cover for you here, but what I really wanted to do today was have a little of that FUN that I promised you :) And what could be more fun than winning a COPY OF SHIFTING!!!

Yep, that's right, one lucky commenter will get their very own copy of this wonderful book. All you have to do is leave a comment below and I will choose a random winner. Good luck and congrats Bethany!!!

For a full list of everyone participating in today's Spotlight Extravaganza, head to Christina's blog!

After bouncing from foster home to foster home, Magdalene Mae is transferred to what should be her last foster home in the tiny town of Silver City, New Mexico. Now that she's eighteen and has only a year left in high school, she's determined to stay out of trouble and just be normal. Agreeing to go to the prom with Bridger O'Connell is a good first step. Fitting in has never been her strong suit, but it's not for the reasons most people would expect-it all has to do with the deep secret that she is a shape shifter.

But even in her new home danger lurks, waiting in the shadows to pounce. They are the Skinwalkers of Navajo legend, who have traded their souls to become the animal whose skin they wear-and Maggie is their next target.Full of romance, mysticism, and intrigue, this dark take on Navajo legend will haunt readers to the final page.

Friday Funnies - Happy Birthday to Christine!!

2011-10-07T14:42:00.001-04:00

Today's Friday Funnies are in honor of my dear friend Christine Fonseca's birthday :D Happy Birthday Christine!!! I hope you have a fabulous day and that all your wishes come true this year :)

"Age is something that doesn't matter, unless you are a cheese."

Billie Burke

"Birthdays are good for you. Statistics show that the people who have the most live the longest."

Father Larry Lorenzoni

WIP Wednesday

2011-10-05T09:50:00.000-04:00

Well, I actually managed to stop procrastinating and start working on my WIP :D My goal is to revise a chapter a day (I'm rewriting the book but salvaging what I can so some of these "revisions" are really totally gutting and rewriting but keeping track by chapter is still much easier than by word count) and so far I am a chapter ahead. So I'm pretty happy with myself for the moment.

This is a partial verse novel and I am having a blast writing it. I just hope other people will like it LOL

How are you all doing on your projects?

Action - Motivation and Background = Massive Edits

2011-10-03T09:47:00.000-04:00

I was commenting on the awesome Elana Johnson's post this morning and realized my comment was turning into a post of its own LOL So I copied and pasted it over here and left a shortened version over there :D (Definitely go read her post though if you haven't yet - great editing tips!)

Elana was talking about the things she'd learned from her editors, and asked what we had learned.

I think my biggest one (so far) was trying to jump right into the action without giving my readers enough about my MC to make them care about the action. When I started doing revisions with my agent I ended up adding a whole new first chapter just so I could set things up better, add some background on my character and why she's in the situation she's in, so by the time you got to my old first chapter you actually care about why she's doing what she's doing.

So often we hear that you have to hook people right away and in YA especially, I think that often translates into jumping right into the action. But if the reader doesn't know enough about the world, the characters, and the situation, they probably won't care about that awesome action you are putting right up front.

For my book, my MC is on the hunt for a treasure because she thinks finding it will save her family. And in my old beginning, I opened with her impatiently waiting for what she hopes will be a big clue - then in walks potential love interest who totally freaks her out and then a whole bunch of other stuff happens.

There's nothing wrong with what I had going on (in fact, it's still in the book...just not as the first chapter), but I hadn't spent nearly enough time setting up my character's backstory, who she is and what her motivation was for doing what she was doing. That didn't mean I had to write her entire backstory into the book, but without knowing a bit more about my character, her actions didn't make a lot of sense to my readers. And they certainly weren't as gripping and intense as I'd hoped they'd be.

With those motivations, characterizations, and background bits in place, the action I'd tried to create in the beginning worked much better. There is still action going on - she's still actively doing something, there is still mystery being created - I'm not just spelling out her life story - but I think I did a much better job of setting up the story before really diving into the heart of the matter.

What I learned - It's great to jump right into the action. But you've still got to give your reader a reason to care about what's going on or they won't be hooked, no matter how great that action may be.

What editing tips have you learned?

Blog Chain - Worth It In The End

2011-10-01T16:14:00.002-04:00

This round of the blog chain was started by the amazing Shaun, who wants to know:

What are three books you would tell people that they need to keep reading even if they aren't immediately sucked in by the first page?

I love this question :D And it's been very interesting reading the others' answers. Twilight and The Host by Stephanie Meyers were two that immediately popped to mind and it was interesting to see that several other people on the chain felt the same. I ended up loving both books (and didn't have a problem with the rest of the Twilight books) but those were two that took me a bit to get into.

I'm not always a very patient reader and I'm definitely more apt to stick with a book if it is A) recommended by a friend or B) written by a friend (case in point - The Hollow by Jessica Verday. It took me a while to get into this book but once I did I couldn't put it down. And I devoured the other two in the trilogy).

But, most of the time, if I care about the main character and the storyline is one that I want to follow, I'll stick with it for a good 100 pages, sometimes more, just in the hopes things will get better. So, here is my list (although yes, I cheated a little bit and mentioned a few more above) :D

1. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone - Once he hit Hogwarts I was glued to Mr. Potter through all seven books. I think I read them all in just under a week and I've reread them all several times. But the beginning DRAGGED for me. However, everyone was raving so much about them I stuck with it, and I'm very glad I did.

2. Diana Gabaldon's Outlander - I originally chose this book because I needed something to read on a plane ride and it was really long, had nothing embarrassing on the cover, and was conveniently placed in my grocery store checkout line. I struggled through the first little bit, but I was stuck on a plane with nothing else to do. Once Claire went through the stones and ended up in 1700s Scotland, I was completely hooked. I finished that 800 or so page book that night (totally ignoring my cousins whom I'd gone to visit in the process. Luckily, they understood...and I even got my cousin's wife hooked on the series before I left) :D

I'd recommend this book to anyone who likes historical fiction although I always caution them to stick with it until she gets through the stones. And I do tend to skim her rather long and rambling descriptions. But other than that, these books are AMAZING.

3. Anything by Anne Rice - I love most of her books. Her vampire series especially. Louis and Lestat were my first vampire loves. But I think it takes a good 1 to 3 chapters (sometimes more) for me to get into her books, until the day came where I picked one up and just couldn't get through it at all. But...up until then, once I'd pushed past the first few chapters, I'd be hooked. And after reading a couple books, I knew this would be the case so it was easy to keep going, knowing it would eventually get better.

What books make your list? Why did you stick with them?

Check out Eric's list HERE and be sure to stop by Tere's blog tomorrow and see who made her list.

Friday Funnies

2011-09-30T08:23:00.000-04:00

(more funnies from Facebook) :)

2011-09-28T09:46:00.000-04:00

8 years ago today I became a mom. Best. Job. Ever. :)

Happy Birthday to the sweetest little man in the whole wide world :)

(His Dr. Evil impression LOL)

Happy Release Day to Bethany Wiggins and Shifting!!

2011-09-27T08:34:00.000-04:00

Today a very dear friend is celebrating the release of her debut novel. I posted about this at Operation Awesome on Saturday (head over there if you haven't yet because I'm giving away a SIGNED COPY - you can enter up through midnight tomorrow) but I just couldn't let this day go by without giving a huge shout out and congrats to Bethany Wiggins and her awesome book Shifting.

I've got something special planned in a couple weeks that you won't want to miss, but for today, I just wanted to wish Bethany all the best and implore all my lovely readers to go buy this book. I love this book, and I'm not just saying that because I'm friends with the author :D

This book has it all for me: weird happenings, cool (and creepy) mythology (made even creepier by the fact that it is based on legends about the area where I lived at the time...and there were plenty of local stories about the stuff in this book...and yeah...I'd get freaked out A LOT after talking to Bethany lol), romance, and mystery, and really really bad guys, and an awesome MC who may just be one of my favorites EVER.

Seriously, you all need to check this book out :) Here is the Amazon blurb:

After bouncing from foster home to foster home, Magdalene Mae is transferred to what should be her last foster home in the tiny town of Silver City, New Mexico. Now that she's eighteen and has only a year left in high school, she's determined to stay out of trouble and just be normal. Agreeing to go to the prom with Bridger O'Connell is a good first step. Fitting in has never been her strong suit, but it's not for the reasons most people would expect-it all has to do with the deep secret that she is a shape shifter. But even in her new home danger lurks, waiting in the shadows to pounce. They are the Skinwalkers of Navajo legend, who have traded their souls to become the animal whose skin they wear-and Maggie is their next target.

You can find Bethany at her WEBSITE, BLOG, on TWITTER, and on FACEBOOK. And you can buy Shifting HERE :) Stay tuned for even more fun stuff in a couple weeks ;-)

And CONGRATS Bethany!!!! :)

Odd Inspiration Moment

2011-09-26T09:09:00.001-04:00

I love love LOVE when something about a WIP finally clicks. I was struggling a bit figuring out the backstory of my book, and since the backstory is a HUGE part of this particular book, this was kind of a problem. There were several things I was struggling with:

why my MC had ended up where she had
why her love interest was also there
how he got there, and how he came to be her love interest in the first place (I needed their families to be against their being together, but I didn't want it to be too Romeo and Juliet with all the hate and family feud issues going on)
and there were several other issues about my MC and her family/background/personality/character, etc that I just was having a really hard time figuring out.

So, needless to say, work on this WIP has been pretty slow because I needed this stuff worked out before I could really dive in. Oh, and add to all that the fact that I've been toying with making this book a partial verse novel (and hence needed to decide when and where to use poetry...and what type of poetic form(s) I wanted to use) and yeah...issues LOL

And then last night, I was sitting there watching Drop Dead Diva (awesome finale, can't wait for next season!!) and all the answers just fell into place. And I'm not really sure why. There was a murderer on death row on the show. He'd killed somebody = he was bad. But he loved his sister, wanted her to have his heart after he was executed, and he seemed genuinely sorry for what he'd done = maybe he wasn't so bad.

And something about his character sparked an idea and everything about my story that I was struggling with just fell into place. I'm not even sure what it was because I'm not going to make my MC (or her love interest) a murderer or anything like that. It wasn't in any way a literal "ooo I'll do the same thing."

But something about that character's story, the conflict in him, tweaked the right creative thread and the issues I was having in my manuscript were suddenly clear...as were their solutions.

I grabbed a notebook and wrote out 2 pages of notes. And for the first time in a long time I am excited to start writing :D

Have you ever had a weird inspiration moment? Where something totally unexpected inspired an idea or made that problem area you'd been working on suddenly fall into place?

Friday Funnies - Facebook Changes Again

2011-09-23T07:00:00.012-04:00

So, Facebook pulled some major changes on us recently and many of us were upset. And weren't shy about sharing that :D The upside...several funny little pics popped up around my news feed. Here are a few of them :)

Contronyms Part Deux

2011-09-21T08:57:00.003-04:00

Some more awesome wordage :D

Handicap: An advantage provided to ensure equality, or a disadvantage that prevents equal achievement
Lease: To offer property for rent, or to hold such property
Left: Remained, or departed
Let: Allowed, or hindered
Literally: Actually, or virtually
Mean: Average or stingy, or excellent
Model: An exemplar, or a copy
Out: Visible, as with stars showing in the sky, or invisible, in reference to lights
Out of: Outside, or inside, as in working out of a specific office
Presently: Now, or soon
Quantum: Significantly large, or a minuscule part
Quiddity: Essence, or a trifling point of contention
Quite: Rather (as a qualifying modifier), or completely
Ravel: To entangle, or to disentangle
Refrain: To desist from doing something, or to repeat
Rent: To purchase use of something, or to sell use
Rock: An immobile mass of stone or figuratively similar phenomenon, or a shaking or unsettling movement or action
Sanction: To approve, or to boycott
Sanguine: Confidently cheerful, or bloodthirsty
Scan: To peruse, or to glance
Screen: To present, or to conceal
Seed: To sow seeds, or to shed or remove them
Shop: To patronize a business in order to purchase something, or to sell something
Skin: To cover, or to remove
Splice: To join, or to separate
Strike: To hit, or to miss in an attempt to hit
Table: To propose (in British English), or to set aside
Temper: To soften, or to strengthen
Throw out: To dispose of, or to present for consideration
Transparent: Invisible, or obvious
Trim: To decorate, or to remove excess from
Trip: A journey, or a stumble
Unbending: Rigid, or relaxing
Variety: A particular type, or many types
Wear: To endure, or to deteriorate
Weather: To withstand, or to wear away
Wind up: To end, or to start up

Can you think of any others? I LOVE these words! :D

(The original post came from Daily Writing Tips HERE)

Contronyms = Coolest. Words. Ever.

2011-09-19T08:47:00.001-04:00

My lovely friend Toni Wilson forwarded this list to me a few days ago. It's absolutely awesome :D Especially for someone who writes kids books and poetry. Because nothing is more fun than using the same word but having it mean two completely different things. And not just different things, but opposite things. The same word with contradictory meanings. Too dang cool. Gotta love the English language, huh LOL

The list had 75 words. I'll just post a few of them today and post a few more another day :D

1. Apology: A statement of contrition for an action, or a defense of one
2. Aught: All, or nothing
3. Bill: A payment, or an invoice for payment
4. Bolt: To secure, or to flee
5. Bound: Heading to a destination, or restrained from movement
6. Buckle: To connect, or to break or collapse
7. Cleave: To adhere, or to separate
8. Clip: To fasten, or detach
9. Consult: To offer advice, or to obtain it
10. Custom: A common practice, or a special treatment
11. Dust: To add fine particles, or to remove them
12. Fast: Quick, or stuck or made stable
13. Fine: Excellent, or acceptable or good enough
14. Finished: Completed, or ended or destroyed
15. Left: Remained, or departed
16. First degree: Most severe in the case of a murder charge, or least severe in reference to a burn
17. Flog: To promote persistently, or to criticize or beat
18. Off: Deactivated, or activated, as an alarm
19. Give out: To provide, or to stop because of a lack of supply
20. Hold up: To support, or to impede
21. Overlook: To supervise, or to neglect
22. Oversight: Monitoring, or failing to oversee
23. Peer: A person of the nobility, or an equal
24. Put out: Extinguish, or generate
25. Puzzle: A problem, or to solve one

(The original post came from Daily Writing Tips HERE)

What I Got During My Last Trip to Borders

2011-09-17T09:25:00.001-04:00

Okay, I've had a few people ask me this so I thought I'd post a list :D Yes, they are mostly fantasy paperbacks and several sequels (and I haven't read the first books). I had limited funds and time so I grabbed anything that looked interesting :D

Grace - by Elizabeth Scott
The Faeman Quest - by Herbie Brennan
The Hidden Goddess - by M.K. Hobson
Candle in the Storm - by Morgan Howell
Law of the Broken Earth - by Rachel Neumeier
Bloodhound - by Beka Cooper
Palace Council - by Stephen L. Carter
Last Sacrifice - by Richelle Mead (for giveaways since I already have a copy)
I Remember Nothing - by Nora Ephron
and a 2 CD + 1 DVD blooper reel Ultimate Sports Mix

Grand total (including tax) = $5.30 :D

Friday Funnies - Karma....and My Last Trip to Borders

2011-09-16T14:51:00.001-04:00

So I was out shopping today with the hubs. We were debating on whether or not we should run by Borders one last time. I knew they were closing, but couldn't remember what day. We almost didn't go. But then I decided that since I was a good little writer and wrote shiny new words yesterday that I could have a bookalicious treat :D

We walked in around 1pm...and heard them announce that they had just entered their very last hour before closing. The store would close forever at 2 pm. This made me very sad. As did the fact that the store was almost completely empty. Just a few boxes of books here and there and a few shelves scattered around holding their remaining stock.

Then came a really awesome announcement. Something I decided was just good karma coming back around to me for being a good little-shiny-new-word-writer writer person.....everything in the store was now $0.50. 50 cents people!!!

Every seen a cat on catnip? Yeah....that's pretty much how it looks when a writer is in a bookstore and has just been told everything they lay their inkstained hands on is two for a dollar.

I had fun....just sayin' ;-)

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

Update: You know that brand new 7th bookcase I got not too long ago? :D Looks likes it's time for bookcase #8 #gottaloveabooksale

Mystery Agent Contest at Operation Awesome!

2011-09-15T08:32:00.000-04:00

Time for another Mystery Agent Contest!! Head over to OA with your one line pitches. First 50 entries will be accepted. This time around our agent is looking for:

YA

Urban Fantasy
Paranormal Romance
Contemporary

Women's Fiction
Commercial Fiction
Multicultural Fiction

Good luck everyone!!!

What I Learned from R2D2

2011-09-14T09:54:00.000-04:00

I realized this morning that it's about time I take my own advice :D No matter what the situation, I find that taking things little by little, one piece at a time, baby stepping it, makes this so much more manageable. I tell people that all the time. Whenever my friends are feeling overwhelmed I tell them to just take things one step, or more often, one word at a time.

Yet I've been sitting here staring at my computer for 2 weeks now.....my files are open, but I haven't managed to get anything done. Well, okay, I wrote 162 words the other day. Progress? I guess...technically. Good progress? Not really.

I always have the hardest time starting new projects (well, I started this one a while ago. I'm 20k into it, so this should be easier, but it hasn't been). I think it's because I tend to be a "big picture" person and the thought of all the work ahead, all the obstacles, is daunting.

I actually realized I wasn't following my own advice as I was looking at birthday cakes for my son. He's a Star Wars nuts. Wants a Star Wars cake. I found this one online:

How COOL is that cake? And I thought "yeah, it's awesome, but there is no WAY I can make that thing!" And then I looked at the steps. Broken down one simple step at a time, it doesn't look that hard. I mean if you look at each piece individually, it really doesn't seem so bad. I think I could probably do it. Granted, it probably won't look that good LOL But still, I think I could pull off a decent looking cake.

So...I think I need to apply that logic (that I am so fond of telling other people) to my writing and quit be overwhelmed. I just need to take things one little piece at a time. One word, one sentence, one paragraph at a time. And maybe I can get writing again :)

How do you tackle overwhelming tasks?

Read for Relief

2011-09-13T07:54:00.000-04:00

Read for Relief is a writing community auction site set up to raise funds for the victims of Hurricane Irene. Check it out if you haven't already. There are so many awesome things up for bid, including signed books and writer/agent/editor critiques.

And up today - a 30 page critique by the ladies of Operation Awesome! :D If you'd like me and my fellow OA ladies to crit your first 30 pages, stop on by and bid!

You can also donate directly if you don't want to bid, but seriously, there are some awesome items so go check it out!

A Dark and Stormy Blog Chain

2011-09-10T19:32:00.001-04:00

It's Blog Chain time again! This time the lovely Christine decided to get our creative gears rolling. Here is her topic:

Since we are all writer's, I thought it was about time for us to stretch our creative muscles and do a little writing. So, take the following topic and go crazy! Show us what you've got.

Your story can be as long or as short as you choice.

The topic: A dark and stormy night.

Okay...since I have incredibly lax on doing anything poetry related lately, I decided to do a sestina. (For those who don't know what that is, a sestina is a poem that has six 6 line stanzas and an envoi. The ending words in each line of each stanza follow a specific repeating pattern and the three line envoi uses all six words (usually two words per line) The lines usually contain 10 syllables each. ) :)

Anyhow...I've been really sick this week and with the flooding out in my neck of the woods the kids have been home from school all week. So...I'm definitely not bringing my A game LOL But...here you go:

****

We are hidden in the dark, moonless night.
I welcome the rain as it strikes my face,
cool drops washing away my tears, my blood.
“Breathe,” he pleads, his lips brushing mine. “Please breathe.”
I shudder, my breath escaping at his
command. “For you,” I sigh, “only for you.”

He holds me. “I won’t let them reclaim you.”
Shouts roll with the thunder through the night.
Only one life matters to me now. His.
“You must leave me.” The horror on his face
breaks my heart, but he must run. “Go,” I breathe.
They can’t find him with me, covered in blood -

Mine, his…theirs. His pained howl rips through my blood,
burns his image on my soul. “I love you,”
I whisper, shattered, unwilling to breathe,
unable to stop. They’re coming, the night
rife with vengeance. Once more I touch his face.
“Go!” I cry. One last look and he runs, his

tortured fury echoing through me, his
pain my own. They come, find me bathed in blood.
“Where is he?” they ask. But I turn my face.
They lift me. “Your father’s waiting for you.”
Others fan out, searching into the night.
They won’t find him. He’s gone…and I can’t breathe.

They carry me through dark forests. I breathe
grudgingly, praying the storm hides him, his
trail. My father’s fortress looms in the night
and too soon I am before him. My blood
freezes. “Thought you could run from me, did you?”
His drawn sword scrapes across my face.

They drag in my love; blood drains from my face.
Our eyes lock and I forget how to breathe.
Father’s rage unleashes. “Traitors! Both of you!”
The sword strikes, but my eyes never leave his.
Father screams, his vengeance soaked in our blood.
He fades. I see only my love, my knight.

“I love you,” we whisper. He strokes my face.
Our blood mingles, our lives entwine, mine and his.
The night is ours. And one last time…we breathe.

****

There are some really great entries on this chain, so I'd highly recommend starting from the beginning with Christine's post. Our fabulous new member PK posted before me, and another awesome new member, Tere, will post tomorrow.

Friday Funnies

2011-09-09T09:03:00.000-04:00

AMAZING ANAGRAMS

Dormitory = Dirty Room
Desperation = A Rope Ends It
The Morse Code = Here Come Dots
Slot Machines = Cash Lost in 'em
Animosity = Is No Amity
Snooze Alarms = Alas! No More Z's
Alec Guinness = Genuine Class
Semolina = Is No Meal
The Public Art Galleries = Large Picture Halls, I Bet
A Decimal Point = I'm a Dot in Place
Eleven plus two = Twelve plus one
Contradiction = Accord not in it

THREE GUYS ARE SITTING AT A BAR
#1: "...Yeah, I make $75,000 a year after taxes."
#2: "What do you do for a living?"
#1: "I'm a stockbroker. How much do you make?
#2: "I should clear $60,000 this year."
#1: "What do you do?"
#2: "I'm an architect."

The third guy has been sitting there quietly, staring into his beer, when the others turn to him.

#2: "Hey, how much do you make per year?"
#3: "Gee... hmmm... I guess about $13,000."
#1: "Oh yeah? What kind of stories do you write?"

Creative Goal Tackling

2011-09-07T09:27:00.000-04:00

Sometimes unexpected (and unwanted) things occur and you just have to find a way to deal with them. For example, when we moved to PA, our moving truck (through a series of irritating and sometimes tragic circumstances) ended up being a month and a half late.

So, instead of getting our house set up, and putting our previously outside dog outside in her kennel where she belonged (the kennel was on the truck), she got to stay in the (empty) house with us (much to my dismay...and the cat's).

Now, I love our dog. But I don't like her in the house. She sheds like crazy. It's a pain. But after a month and a half of indoor living, our dog decided the outdoors was no longer good enough for her and pretty much has a stroke every time we try to put her in her kennel.

So...she now lives inside. A circumstance I really didn't want. But, I found a way to live with it. Instead of sweeping my kitchen (where she stays), I now vacuum it. It keeps the hair away and allows us to live in peace with each other. (Before I figured out the vacuum thing, I was sweeping up enough hair to build myself another dog every day. I was not having fun).

What does this have to do with writing? Well, sometimes we come across things we aren't expecting, we don't like, and we don't want to have to live with. And we don't always have a choice.

If you want a better story, sometimes you have to add in that new plotline thread that is going to take FOREVER to weave in. If you want an agent, you are going to have to query. If you want your book to sell, you are going to have to help market it. Sometimes, in order to accomplish your goal, you have to do things you might not want to do.

So do what I did. Find a way to make it not so bad. Find a way to do what you need to do in the most painless way possible. Take those revisions a small chunk at a time and set up a fun reward system for yourself. Gather a group of also-querying writer pals and help keep each other sane. Find aspects of marketing that you enjoy (or at least don't hate) and focus on those. If you don't like public speaking, maybe set up online workshops instead of school visits or pre-tape presentations instead of doing live chats. Facebook instead of blog or Tweet instead of Skype.

Bottom line: there are things that you are going to have to do to succeed in this business that might not be things you want to do. So find a way to accomplish your goals that you can live with. Do I enjoy vacuuming my kitchen every day (and sometimes twice a day)? Nooooo. But...it sure beats sweeping it 4 times a day and I get it done a lot faster.

Sometimes you just need to get a little creative :)

Have you found any creative ways to get a not-so-fun goal accomplished?

Happy Labor Day!

2011-09-05T09:25:00.002-04:00

Friday Funnies

2011-09-02T10:49:00.001-04:00

(a couple of these are a little outdated, but funny) :D
You know it's time to turn off the computer when ...
1) You forgot how to work the TV remote control.
2) You see something funny and scream, "LOL, LOL!"
3) You meet the mailman at the curb and swear he said YOU'VE GOT MAIL.
4) You sign off and your screen says you were on for 6 days and 45 minutes.
5) You fall asleep, but instead of dreams you get IMs.
6) You buy a laptop and a cell phone so you can have AOL in your car.
7) Tech support calls YOU for help.
8) You beg your friends to get an account so you can "hang out".
9) You get a second phone line just to call out for pizza.
10) You purchase a vanity car license plate with your screen name on it.
11) You say "he he he he" or "heh heh heh" instead of laughing.
12) You say "SCROLL UP" when someone asks what it was you said.
13) You sneak away to your computer when everyone goes to sleep.
14) You talk on the phone with the same person you are sending an instant message to.
15) You look at an annoying person off-line and wish that you had your ignore button handy.
16) You sit on AOL for 6 hours for that certain special person to sign on.
17) You get up in the morning and go online before getting your coffee.
18) You end your sentences with..... three or more periods
19) You've gone to an unstaffed AOL room to give tech support.
20) You're on the phone and say BRB.
(from makemesmile.com from IBLaffing and http://www.a-writers-block.com/jokes.html)

Follower Appreciation Celebration at Operation Awesome!

2011-09-01T08:25:00.000-04:00

I'm over at OA today spilling the deets on a giveaway of awesomeness! To show some love for our Operation Awesome followers, we are giving away SIX fantastic prize packs. Winners will be announced next week, so stop on by and enter by leaving a comment!!

We will also be holding another Mystery Agent contest on Sept 15th so get those pitches polished!

Earthquakes - Rocking My Literary World

2011-08-31T09:25:00.001-04:00

Okay, this got a little long, but bear with me. I had a total literary epiphany the other day :D

So, as most of you know, we had a nice little earthquake on the east coast recently. And there were lots of west coasters amused at the reactions of the east coasters since to the west coasters a 5.8 earthquake isn't really enough of a shake up to even make them pause.

I know this because I was one of them. Even with my epiphany (which I swear I'm getting to) I was amused at some of the reactions around me. I grew up in California. I spent the first 21 years of my life there and still visit frequently as I have a ton of family and friends there. I've lived through major earthquakes. I will always consider myself a Californian Girl.

We had earthquake drills in school more frequently than fire drills. We were constantly woken up at night by little earthquakes shaking the shampoo bottles from the shelves in the tub - but if it wasn't strong enough to literally shake us out of bed, we rolled over and went back to sleep.

So imagine my surprise when this earthquake hit and I found myself standing in the middle of my kitchen, completely frozen, my mind completely blank as my kids ran to me freaking out and asking what we were supposed to do.

*Cue parallel to writing*ahem*

It used to bug me to no end when I'd read books where the MC would find himself/herself in a situation that he/she was totally prepared for and he/she would freeze up. I'd think, "What the heck!? You know what to do! There is no way you'd just stand there while that [insert whatever you've prepared for] hits! You know this!!"

It always seemed so unbelievable to me.

Now back to the earthquake. I KNEW this. I was prepared for it. I've lived through earthquakes that have demolished bridges and highways and buildings. I've literally seen the ground crack open right in front of me. This little earthquake was nothing (Though it did make my 150 yr old, non-earthquake code built house groan and creak like it was going to crumble, which DID freak me out quite a bit).

Yet I stood there in my kitchen, completely frozen before finally remembering what I was supposed to do and grabbing my kids and heading for a sturdy doorway about 2 seconds before the earthquake stopped.

Why?

Because it was completely out of my frame of reference for where I was living.

Yeah. I knew earthquakes. But I didn't know them HERE. They didn't have them HERE. I was 3000 miles away from California. I'm prepared for earthquakes, but I'm not prepared for them HERE.

It took me several seconds to connect the dots. I kept thinking "this is an earthquake...no...can't be...no, wait...it IS!" And for the first time I understood how a MC could spend his/her whole life training for something only to be frozen when unexpectedly confronted with that something.

Say your MC battles zombies, but has only trained for it in cemeteries where zombies supposedly live. And then one shows up at Starbucks. *Cue the WTH freeze*

Before, I'd scoff. I'd scorn. I'd yell "this is so not REAL!" at the book. But I think I get it now :)

Which will make both my reading life, and my writing life, a little more relatable I think. :)

Have you ever felt this way about reactions of characters in books and then had a real life experience that suddenly made it all click? If so, do you use this now in your writing?

This is What Happens When a Writer Can't Find Paper...

2011-08-29T08:18:00.000-04:00

I used to have a notebook by my bed. Someone moved it last night. I had my pen...but no notebook. So of course inspiration chose the perfect moment to strike - a couple new stanzas for my picture book - and frankly I was too tired to go in search of paper. So I grabbed my pen and used the only available surface around (my furniture was too dark or I really think I would have just written on my dresser...or headboard :D ). I woke up looking something like this:

(Only in my case I just had words on the left hand...and a few on my forearm :D ) Not ideal, but hey it works in a pinch LOL

Do you ever do this? What's the weirdest thing you've ever jotted a note on?

Friday Funnies - Back to School

2011-08-26T08:36:00.000-04:00

(pics from icanhascheezburger.com and jokes from Reader's Digest Laughs found HERE)

I Got Tagged! Welcome to 10 Random Facts

2011-08-24T09:54:00.000-04:00

The lovely Rebecca Knight tagged me with a bit of randomness so I thought I'd play along :D I'm supposed to tell you 10 Random Things about myself. They won't be nearly as awesome as Rebecca's :D but here you go :)

1) I met my husband online. We were engaged about 3 weeks later...and we met face to face for the first time about a month after that :) He was my cousin's best friend so it wasn't entirely crazy. We lived 2000 miles apart until a month before the wedding so by the time we finally got hitched we were racking up $600 a month phone bills. It was either get married or go broke - so we got married ;-)

2) I'm not a huge fan of odd numbers. Not that I dislike them particularly, but they kind of bug me. I hate when my books end up with an odd number of chapters. I've actually add in extra plotlines just so I could even things out. If I buy a bag of apples, I guarantee you there will be 6 of them...or 8. My husband came home with 5 once and looked at me like I was crazy when I gave him a hard time about it. He took one out of the bag, took a big bite, and said "Is that better?"

Yes...yes it was :D

3) When I turned 30 my hair went curly. Before...it was straight, with a slight wave if it got longer. Now, when I get out of the shower in the morning it looks like I've just gotten a perm. It takes a good 30-45 mins with a flatiron to tame the mane. But, I prefer curl to gray so I'm not complaining too hard. :D

4) My husband is 10 years older than me and is the baby of his family. So I have nieces and nephews who are older than me, a brother in law who is older than my father, and a mother in law who is the same age as my grandmother. I'm also my husband's second wife, so I have step kids who are the same age as my youngest brother and my children are the same age as my mother in law's great grandchildren. It makes family get togethers interesting lol

5) It took 4 schools and 7 years to get my bachelors degree. I moved a lot...kept losing credits...all that good stuff :D I like living in different places but I wouldn't recommend trying to graduate from college that way.

6) One of the reasons I fell in love with my husband was because of his heritage. I had just finished reading Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series (about a time traveling woman who falls in love with a Scottish warrior). I found out Tom's last name was McLean and that his grandfather had immigrated from Scotland and immediately handed over my phone number :D

7) I like watching period movies - not for the history (my BS is in history...the inaccuracies tend to bug me) but because of the big poofy dresses. I would really love a closet full of those gorgeous monstrosities and a thousand costume balls to wear them to :)

8) I'm claustrophobic. Not get-in-fetal-position-and-rock-while-moaning-and-sucking-my-thumb claustrophobic, but yeah...I do NOT like small, enclosed spaces. This includes tanning beds (I tried it once and kept the lid open far enough I could see out), small cars, and crowded places. If you ever see me in a shopping mall the day after Thanksgiving, call the cops because I am there against my will and am probably seconds away from a panic attack :D

9) I wanted to name one of my kids Anakin. Yes, I'm a Star Wars fan, but that's not why, I swear. I just think it's a cool name :D The hubs vetoed that though....spoil sport. Too bad too because my son is a HUGE Star Wars fan and actually requests on a daily basis that we call him Anakin.

10) I live in a century or so old farmhouse across from a very old cemetery (there are headstones there from the late 1700's and 1800's). I'm pretty sure my house is haunted and I have a ghost that likes to cuddle at night. We occasionally hear voices like a radio or tv has been left on somewhere (but if we tell it to shush the noise stops) and twice now I've felt someone snuggle up behind me, and once felt someone shove their arm under my pillow and then pull it out as I rolled over...only to discover my husband wasn't in bed with me at the time. And sometimes it feels like someone is sitting on the end of my bed (you know how you can feel the bed dip down?) and the last time it happened I was almost asleep and it woke me up because it felt like someone was sitting on my foot so I sat up and said "can you please stay out of my bedroom because you are kind of freaking me out!" The pressure on my foot eased up and it hasn't happened since.

So...at least we have a very considerate ghost :D

Annnd now I'm supposed to tag 4 other bloggers so I think I will tag:

Kate Karyus Quinn
Katrina Lantz
Kristal Shaff
Amparo Ortiz

Blog Chain - So What's the Plan?

2011-08-23T08:27:00.001-04:00

After a nice little break, our blog chain is back in action and we are thrilled to welcome several awesome new members (check out the list on my sidebar for their links) This round's topic was chosen by our wonderful Sandra who wants to know:

Have the recent changes in the publishing industry affected your writing plans/career? If so, how?

I don't know if the rise of self pubbing and ebooks has changed my plans for my writing career, or just made me feel better about them :) Self pubbing is something I've been looking into for a few years, at least in regards to my picture books, but it's something I've held off on in the past because of the cost and the stigma attached to it.

I've considered self pubbing my picture books for several reasons, one being the control self pubbing affords an author. I never liked that I wouldn't really have any say about the illustrations in my book if I went traditional. The illustrations are such a HUGE part of what makes a picture book that it seemed strange for an author not be more involved (and I'm sure different publishers handle this differently but from what I've always understood, the process is similar to how covers are chosen...the author might get some input but at the end of the day, the publisher will go with the illustrations they feel fit the book best).

However, I didn't go ahead with my self pubbing plans in the past because I didn't have the resources to put out a book that I felt was up to par. It's expensive to print full color books. But with the rise of ebooks, this isn't as much of an issue.

I didn't truly decide to go ahead and self pub my PBs until I bought a Nook. And saw how much my kids LOVED reading PBs on it. And decided to go to CA for vacation and started thinking about lugging a backpack full of books through several airports :) I'll tell you what, that Nook is a FANTASTIC purchase if you are going to be traveling with children. You can download a hundred PBs guaranteed to keep your kiddos well stocked in reading material until you reach your destination, and just slip one little device into your purse that stores them all. Love it.

And I love that I can now produce a beautiful quality picture ebook. I'll still go traditional first when it comes to my NF and novels (though I haven't ruled out self pubbing if any of my books fail to sell in the future...I love that I have that option available) - but for my picture books, all the recent changes in the publishing world have opened a lot of doors for me that were previously closed.

What about you? Have any of your plans for the future changed with all that has been going on?

Be sure to stop by Eric's and see how he views all the new changes, and stop by our new member Tere's blog tomorrow for her take on it all :)

Wiping Walls and Polishing Manuscripts

2011-08-22T09:25:00.000-04:00

So, I was wiping down the walls the other day (please...contain your jealousy of my glamourous life) ;-) and, as often occurs, was reminded of writing.

See, I grabbed a rag just to wipe off some finger prints I saw on the door jamb going into the kitchen. But after I wiped those off, I noticed more over on the back door. And then I noticed more on the doorway leading to the stairs, and then I saw more....well, you see what I mean. Pretty soon I had a bucket of suds and was wiping down every wall, door, and doorway in my house.

I tend to do this with my manuscripts as well. I often go into revisions thinking "everything is pretty good, I just need to make a few tweaks here and there."

And then I get into my pages and notice just a few more things that need some cleaning up...and then a couple more things pop up...and then those things lead to a few more things...and before I know it I've gone in an done a complete overhaul of my whole book :D

This doesn't always happen, of course. But I almost always find more to fix than I thought I needed going in.

Do you do this? Do you go in thinking all you need is a quick wipe down and end up with a bucket and a scrub brush? :D

For me, this actually works well. My preconceived notions help keep me from freaking out when I go into revisions. By the time I realize it needs more work than I thought, I'm already elbow deep into scrubbing and am (usually) pumped to keep going :)

Unplugged Week

2011-08-15T09:34:00.000-04:00

It's Write On Con Week!! And I'm getting my kids ready to go back to school next week. And starting new revisions.

So....I thought this might be a good time for an unplugged week :D I'll be back bright and early next Monday morning! And if anything exciting happens I'll of course pop on for a bit :D

Have a great week!!

Friday Funnies

2011-08-12T09:45:00.000-04:00

Q:How many science fiction writers does it take to change a light bulb?
A:Two, but it's actually the same person doing it. He went back in time and met himself in the doorway and then the first one sat on the other one's shoulder so that they were able to reach it. Then a major time paradox occurred and the entire room, light bulb, changer and all was blown out of existence. They co-existed in a parallel universe, though.

Q. How many mystery writers does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A. Two. One to screw it almost all the way in, and the other to give it a surprising twist at the end.

Q. How many cover blurb writers does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A. A VAST AND TEEMING HORDE STRETCHING FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA!!!!

Q"How many screenwriters does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Ten
1st draft. Hero changes light bulb.
2nd draft. Villain changes light bulb.
3rd draft. Hero stops villain from changing light bulb. Villain falls to death.
4th draft. Lose the light bulb.
5th draft. Light bulb back in. Fluorescent instead of tungsten.
6th draft. Villain breaks bulb, uses it to kill hero's mentor.
7th draft. Fluorescent not working. Back to tungsten.
8th draft. Hero forces villain to eat light bulb.
9th draft. Hero laments loss of light bulb. Doesn't change it.
10th draft. Hero changes light bulb.

(jokes from Jokes About Writers)

A Link and a Mystery Agent Winner :D

2011-08-11T10:30:00.001-04:00

A good friend of mine sent me this link this morning - I love reading success stories like this :)

Kathry Stockett, Author of THE HELP
(awesome story, she's hilarious, and I love her attitude, though I'm really not too impressed until rejection numbers reach the triple digits. THEN I sympathize) ;-)

Annnd I'm over on OA today announcing the winners of our August Mystery Agent Contest so if you entered (or just want to know all the deets), head on over!

Know Your Audience

2011-08-10T11:51:00.001-04:00

I think one of the most important things, if not THE most important thing, for any writer is this:

Know your audience.

When I sit down to write anything, I always have a target audience in mind. If I’m working on a YA novel, I’m thinking of teenagers between the ages of about 14 and 19. When I’m working on children’s picture books, I’m usually envisioning my own kids at ages 5 and 7. When I was in school and working on an essay or paper, I had my professor and classmates in mind. And when I wrote Homework Helpers: Essays and Term Papers, I had an audience of frustrated students who had to write a paper in mind.

If you know your audience, you can gear your book or project for them. And I'm not talking about writing for trends or trying to force your books to be what someone else wants them to be. I'm talking about knowing who you are writing for. Who is going to be reading your book?

If you know this, you can keep the writing, and the language specifically, appropriate. Now, I’m not talking about swearing or questionable jokes or anything. I mean using the big, field-specific technical language in your papers where your professor will appreciate them and keeping your young adult novels teen-friendly by using the type of language teens use when they speak; using kid-friendly words and terms in picture books; keeping the aliens in their sci-fi worlds and adding the hot and heavy sex scenes to the romance novels, but maybe keeping them out of a NF textbook :D

Can they blend a bit? Sure. I love a little overlap. I love a touch of romance in my sci-fi novels (or any novel really) :D I love a little supernatural in a good mystery. I love a hint of maturity in a cute MG. And maybe a bit of playful youthfulness in an adult novel. It can be hilarious to see an adult talking like a kid or a really smart kid sound more adult than the adults. Nothing is absolute and it certainly doesn't need to be when writing.

But think about it. How popular is your YA novel going to be if you use so many huge, unreadable words that your readers have to run it through a translator just to figure out what you are saying? How popular will your adult spy thriller be if your main character is a bunny named Buttons who solves crimes with his sidekick Terry Turtle? (Although that would be a totally cute PB! Might have to get on that....) What kind of grade are you going to get if you turn in that college-level essay peppered with phrases like “So, dude, like you should totally just listen to me cause I like tooootally get what I’m doing.” ?

No matter what you are writing, you’ve got to keep your audience in mind. I guarantee they’ll love you for it :)

Do you keep your audience in mind when you write?

What's in a Name?

2011-08-08T07:00:00.010-04:00

I've been trying to rename a book I wrote a couple years ago. I've been going through it, doing some edits, and one thing it has ALWAYS needed is a really good name. I'm not good with titles in general, at least not my own titles. So this is something that plagues me every time I write something new.

And I know, for me at least, a title really does make a difference. I've chosen to read or not to read books on their title alone. I just finished a book in fact that I bought several months ago (I had a new Nook and the ebook price was cheap) :) but I hadn't really had an interest in reading it because of the title. The description sold me on it, but every time I saw the title in my library, I just passed it by. It has a really bad title that really has nothing to do with the book now that I've read it (and it turned out to be a pretty good story, one that has me wanting to read the many, many other books in the series).

So I'm curious, do you have a hard time naming your books? Do you stress over your titles? And do you ever judge a book by its name?

Friday Funnies - Shark Week Style

2011-08-05T10:23:00.000-04:00

The Atheist and the Shark

A diver surfaced on Molasses Reef, off Key Largo and is swimming back to his boat when he sees a shark behind him in the water. He starts swimming faster but when he looks back he sees the shark turn and head towards him. He's scared to death, and screems out "Oh God! Save me!"

Suddenly time is frozen and a bright light shines down from above. The voice of God says, "Aren't you an atheist? Why do you call upon me when you do not believe in me?"

Knowing he can't lie the man replies, "Well, that's true I don't believe in you. But can you make the shark believe in you?"

The Lord replies, "As you wish."

The light retracts back into the heavens and the atheist looks back to see the jaws of the shark start to close down on him when, all of sudden, the shark stops and pulls back.Shocked, the man believes he has been saved as the huge beast closes its eyes and bows its head and says, "Thank you Lord for this food for which I am about to receive..."

(pics from http://icanhascheezburger.com - joke and cartoons found on floridakeystreasures.com)

Over on OA Today!

2011-08-04T15:26:00.000-04:00

come visit me there :)

The Effect of Writing

2011-08-03T09:43:00.000-04:00

Back in January, when my first book was released, I was asked how writing has affected my life, and how my life has affected my writing. In a nut shell…writing has affected everything about my life and my life has affected everything about my writing :)

Like any writer, my experiences, my personality, my relationships, my emotions on any given day…all of these affect my writing. But these things affect non-fiction and fiction differently.Fiction is very much an emotional sport. I sort of have to be in the right mood to write fiction. Because I take all my emotions and past experiences and make them a part of what I am actually writing, all the aspects of my real life that affect me tend to affect my work as well.

But non-fiction is very non-emotional (unless you are talking about creative/narrative non-fiction like a memoir or narrative personal essay). Actually, in my book, Homework Helpers: Essays and Term Papers, I’m trying to calm emotions down. I want to remove the stress and anxiety my readers feel about writing these assignments by making the process as entertaining and easy as possible. Non-fiction, for me, is more analytical, more technical. So, whatever is going on in my life at the moment doesn’t really affect my non-fiction writing.

Now, how has writing affected my life? In every way imaginable. In ways I never even dreamed. If I were to make a pro and con list, writing would probably seem like it affected my life negatively. My house is a mess, my kids live on cereal more often than I’d like to admit, I don’t spend as much time with them (or with ANYONE for that matter) as I should, I tend to spend all my time in front of my computer instead of out in the world…

But the pros are pretty awesome. Because of my writing, I’ve met the most wonderful people; I now have an amazing outlet for both the more analytical/educational non-fiction side of me, and the overly imaginative/dreamer fiction side of me; I get to spend my free time doing what I LOVE; I’ve learned to be patient and persevering and PROUD of who I am and what I do. There is nothing quite like working toward your dream. I’ve found out just how strong and determined I can be. Writing is helping me develop into the person I always wanted to be. :)

How has writing affected your life? And does your life affect your writing?

Mystery Agent Contest at Operation Awesome!

2011-08-01T09:52:00.000-04:00

Head over with your one line pitches! Only the first 50 entries will be taken. Don't pay attention to the comment number - not all of the comments are entries.

Good luck!!!

Friday Funnies

2011-07-29T10:18:00.000-04:00

And in honor of the Smurfs moving opening today:

:D Happy Friday!!!

And get your one line pitches ready for OA's mystery agent contest on Monday!!

Coming Soon - OA Mystery Agent Contest!

2011-07-28T08:05:00.001-04:00

New Mystery Agent contest coming up on Monday over at Operation Awesome! Get your one line pitches ready! Our fabulous new agent is looking for:

Young Adult fiction, Women's fiction, literary and commercial fiction, and pop-culture non-fiction. She is very interested in acquiring Young Adult (contemporary, sci-fi/fantasy, thriller and horror ), Middle Grade (fantasy, light sf/f, mystery, and contemporary with a hook) commercial women’s fiction ( urban fantasy, romantic suspense and romance). Above all, she is looking for anything with an engaging voice, compelling narrative and authentic characters. She is unafraid of debut authors.

So head on over to OA bright and early Monday morning! The first 50 entries will be accepted :)

Body Language

2011-07-25T08:55:00.000-04:00

One of my weaknesses as a writer is an over-abundance of body language, particularly in dialogue. It's something I am very aware that I do, yet still, I tend to want to tell the reader every single thing my characters are doing as they speak. Stuff like this (as a really bad example):

Jane snorted. "I think you're stupid."
John frowned. "I think you're stupid too."
Jane folded her arms, her brows creased in anger. "You are such a stupid head."
"Oh yeah," John said, stepping closer, "well you're an even bigger stupid head."
"I can't believe I gave you my pudding cup!" Jane said, stomping her foot.
John laughed and winked his eye. "Well you can't have it back now," he said, sticking out his tongue.

Adding all that body language in with the dialogue really isn't necessary. It slows down the pace and the energy of the dialogue. Pick up a favorite book. Flip to a passage of dialogue. There is probably very minimal body language. Without all the body language, the reader is allowed to choreograph the scene for themselves, with the characters' words as their guide. There really is no need for all the extra stage directions :) Something that I tend to forget.

My first drafts are chock full of body language and it's something I spend a lot of time, and several passes, weeding out. Though...I think I'm getting a little better at reigning it in the first time around LOL

How do you feel about body language? Do you add a lot into your dialogue? When reading, do you like knowing every move the characters are making, or do you like supplying that on your own?

Harry Potter Friday Funnies

2011-07-22T09:15:00.000-04:00

In honor of the last installment coming out, today is all about Harry Potter :D

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Ron: Can you believe our luck? Of all the trees we could've hit, he had to get one that hits back.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Fred: He can run faster than Severus Snape confronted with shampoo.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone
“And what if I wave my wand and nothing happens?”
“Throw it away and punch him in the nose,” suggested Ron.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone
Speaking quietly so that no one else would hear, Harry told the other two about Snape's sudden, sinister desire to be a Quidditch referee."Don't play," said Hermione at once.
"Say you're ill," said Ron.
"Pretend to break your leg," Hermione suggested.
"Really break your leg," said Ron.

So You Want to Write a Book - by Jackson Pearce

2011-07-20T07:00:00.008-04:00

I just love Jackson - she says it like it is LOL I want a copy of this video to show to anyone who tells me they want to write a book :) Check out her website :)

Picture Book Party!

2011-07-17T18:11:00.000-04:00

Okay, I promised you a giveaway :) In A Magical World, Alex and his little sister Izzy spend a rainy week going on all sorts of adventures by using their imagination. So...to enter to win a copy of A Magical World and an adorable little tote bag, just leave a comment below. Winner will be announced on Friday.

If you could go anywhere, do anything, be anybody or anything - where would you go? And who, or what, would you be?

Friday Funnies - Birthday Time!

2011-07-15T08:45:00.000-04:00

In honor of my baby's 6th birthday, I give you Birthday Funnies!! :D

Happy Birthday to my beautiful girl :)

A Magical World is Live!!

2011-07-13T11:04:00.000-04:00

I am very thrilled to announce that my picture book, A Magical World, has finally gone live on several sites. You can now purchase the e-version for the Nook at Barnes and Noble, for all Apple products at iBooks, the epub version for just about any ereader on Smashwords, and it will be available in the next week or so on Amazon, Borders, Sony, Diesel, and Scrollmotion. The print version is available at Lulu, and should be up everywhere else by the end of the summer.

I'll be doing a giveaway with a free copy of the book and an adorable tote bag next week, so stay tuned!!!

Stuff Like That Only Happens in Storybooks

2011-07-11T07:00:00.032-04:00

I'm back from California, tanned, tired, sad to leave my family though I had a blast being with them, and amazed at the truly crazy (and sometimes horrific) things that continuously happen to my family :) I'm writing a book, seriously, because stuff like this just doesn't happen anywhere else.

First off, I do want to point out that I had a great time out there. I LOVE seeing my family. My brother has a gorgeous pool that I spent tons of time in, a beautiful home that was awesome to hang out in, and there is nothing I love more than being around my family. I loved being there and I really can't wait to go again.

But...yeah, some stuff happened that I could have lived without LOL Here's a brief run-down of what this "vacation" looked like:

Day 1 - my niece was bitten by my grandmother's dog...in the face.

Day 2 - my nephew sort of broke his nose. No worries...it's slightly crooked but my doctor uncle said he can fix it, no problem.

Day 3 - (4th of July). We sort of misplaced my sweet grandfather for a few minutes. We found him up the street at a neighbor's house so it was all good. Then we went to the lake for an all day picnic and the firework show. My other nephew just about broke his foot getting out of the boat (he ended up with a hole in his foot and some major bruising...painful, but could have been worse). Then we lost Grandpa again. This time it was terrifying. We found him 3 miles away, 2 hours later. Luckily he doesn't remember being lost and he wasn't injured.

Day 4 - We got home around 1:30 am from the fireworks. At about 2:30, Grandma fell down the stairs. She cracked 3 ribs, reinjured (though thankfully did not rebreak) the arm she had broken 5 months previously, and had a compound break of both bones in her leg. This was a night I never want to relive.

Day 5 - Miracle! No injuries or misplaced people.

Day 6 - My son made up for Day 5 by cracking his head on the rock ledge by the pool and getting his finger stuck in a bike tire. He now has a goose egg on his noggin and is missing a chunk out of his middle finger...which he loves to show people...which, being the finger it is, is always interesting :D

Day 7 - Grandma gets transferred to the rehab center. My mother decided to sit on a rolling suitcase...and ended up flying head over heels and landing on the floor. By this time this week had been so crazy everyone was laughing too hard to get her off the ground...including my mom :D She is a bit bruised and sore, but luckily she didn't need the bed next to Grandma.

Day 8 - we made it home in one piece - though by this time I fully expected the plane to go down on the way there :)

I don't know what it is about my family, but stuff like this happens ALL the time. And really, except for the truly horrible situations, we've learned to laugh at a lot of our mishaps. :) If we didn't laugh, I think we'd all be certifiable by now (and we probably are) ;-)

I've got a rough draft outline drawn up for the book, which includes a lot of other strange stuff my family does...like my dad's habit of picking up furniture and other objects off the side of the road or his talent for quirky fix-ups (like the time he strapped a second radiator to his car with bungy cords because it kept overheating - it actually worked too though his mechanic about had a stroke laughing when he saw it)...I'll let you know when I finish the first draft :D

How did everyone else's holiday go?

Friday Funnies

2011-07-01T09:47:00.000-04:00

First of all, head on over to Operation Awesome today for another awesome Mystery Agent Contest!!! Enter your one line pitch for any of these genres:

YA and MG: southern gothic, historical fiction, magical realism, science fiction, supernatural/ paranormal, ghost stories, humor, fantasy, thriller/ suspense, edgy YA, friendship MG

Secondly, I will be off to California tomorrow to visit family, so I'm going to take an unplugged week. I hope you all have a fantastic Fourth of July!!!

And now, for some funnies :D

I'll admit...I thought this was cute for about half a second. Then I realized what it was...now I can't even look at it LOL

Mystery Agent Contest TOMORROW!!!

2011-06-30T13:20:00.001-04:00

Operation Awesome is hosting another Mystery Agent Contest tomorrow!! Head over there tomorrow morning for full details and to enter your one line pitch. Here is what our agent is looking for:

YA and MG: southern gothic, historical fiction, magical realism, science fiction, supernatural/ paranormal, ghost stories, humor, fantasy, thriller/ suspense, edgy YA, friendship MG

Point of View

2011-06-29T11:43:00.000-04:00

I was talking to some friends recently about the inner workings of how writers craft stories, and one of the subjects we talked about was point of view. I wrote a post on this a few years ago for my other blog, so I thought I'd repost some of the finer points. Mainly, the different types of point of view out there. Until I started looking around while writing this post, I didn't really think about how many types of points of view there are.

In fiction, we tend to use first person or third person. But there are quite a few others. Here are the common choices:

First person - the narrator is generally the main character in the book and tells the story as "I" (I did this, I said, I felt)

First person plural - more rare, with the story told by "we" (we did this, we said that)

Second person - very rare - the reader is treated as a character and is referred to as "you." This type of POV works well for some non-fiction works. For example, if I was writing a How-to article, I could use this to say "First, you take the paint brush and apply paint. Then you do this and this and this." For fiction though, this POV isn't used often, though it is used in those Choose Your Own Adventure books.

Third person limited - the narrator is outside the story but focuses on one character at a time. (He said, she said). While the POV may change between different characters, these changes would be separated by scene or chapter breaks.

Third person omniscient - the narrator is outside the story but doesn't focus on one character. The narrator knows all, sees all, conveys all.

Have you ever used a point of view other than first or third person? Do you like reading books in points of view different from the "norm"?

Blog Chain - Where Do You Go?

2011-06-26T14:23:00.000-04:00

Okay, so it's my turn to chose the topic for this round and I toooootally spaced (I was supposed to post yesterday).

So! Without further ado, here is my question:

There are so many things we have to include in our storyworlds...characters, world details, settings, etc. No matter what genre you write, your stories are full of tiny details that help create your storyworld. I know that for me, at least, finding or creating all these details can sometimes be a bit tough.

Where do you go for help? And what types of things are you more likely to research/search for as opposed to making up on your own? Do you have any favorite resource sites? Share links if you have them!!

For instance, I had a rather lame name for my girls' boarding school in my book. I was using it as a filler and sort of never got around to giving it a more unique name. I wanted to remedy that but after a million edits (and as it was nearing midnight and I was a little fried) I just couldn't think of anything.

I started googling and found this site, Serendipity, which has several random name generators. I took a couple of the names it came up with, combined them, and now have a school name I absolutely love.

This article on K.M. Weiland's Author Culture blog has several good links for historical writers.

This site has a lot of great Old West info (I've spent a lot of time in their Western Slang section) :D

I've emailed horticultural societies for info on what types of flowers bloom in England in the winter, doctors to find out if 100 year old skeletons would still have hair, checked out a pirate lover site to find info on pistols, and googled the history of toilets :D

What sorts of things have you looked up? Do you have any great resource links?

Head over to Margie's to see what sorts of things she might be googling :)

Friday Funnies

2011-06-24T09:30:00.000-04:00

You know you're a writer when...Your mom says, "Now I'm ironing the placket," and you're standing beside her thinking, Placket. Good word.

You know you're a writer when...You are weaning yourself off adverbs the way others wean themselves off chocolate.

You know you're a writer when...You took time off to write a novel and found so many ways to avoid the actual writing that now you know how to reglaze a window; cook a perfect French cassoulet; change the car's oil, belts, hoses, tires, and bulb; and fix pilot lights.

(Today's Friday Funnies from Adair Lara's You Know You're a Writer When... and LOLCats)

Stay tuned for a new Mystery Agent contest over at Operation Awesome on July 1st!!! Head over there for details! :)

Summer Schedule

2011-06-21T12:23:00.000-04:00

Hey all :) I'll be reverting to my summer schedule for the next couple months. So from now until Sept 1st I'll be posting on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. And in Sept I'll go back to posting Monday - Friday. :) And of course I'll still be over at Operation Awesome on Thursdays :D

I hope everyone is having a great summer so far! :)

Occupational Hazards Part Deux

2011-06-20T08:48:00.000-04:00

There are so many quirky little things that go along with being a writer. Here are a few I discovered this weekend:

Your neighbors aren't sure who you are and ask your husband who that lady is they occasionally see by the mailbox. He has to explain that you are an author so you don't get out much.

Every aspect of your life takes a little trip through your head - like when you really need to talk to someone but can't right away so you have a complete conversation with them in your head before you actually talk to them (and sometimes you decide not to talk to them at all because the internal version didn't turn out so well)

Your mother gives you cleaning tips, like "when you are walking around your house and you see something out of place, just pick it up and your house will stay clean." This is bad for two reasons - 1. your house is so messy your mother feels the need to give you cleaning tips and 2. You have to inform your mother that that tactic just won't work for you because you never actually leave your computer desk long enough to take a walk through your house. On the plus side, your mother has never laughed so hard in her life, so at least you made someone smile :D

What are some occupational hazards you've run into as a writer? :)

Friday Funnies

2011-06-17T10:25:00.000-04:00

ON AGING (a lot of these apply to being a writer as well :D )

Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.

Insanity is my only means of relaxation.

My mind not only wanders, sometimes it leaves completely.

Every time I think about exercise, I lie down til the thought goes away.

God put me on earth to accomplish a certain number of things. Right now I am so far behind, I will live forever.

I finally got my head together, and my body fell apart.

There cannot be a crisis this week; my schedule is already full.

The nice part of living in a small town is that when I don't know what I'm doing, someone else does.

As time goes on I think I know what I want until I walk from one end of the house to the other, and can't remember what I came after.

The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight, because by then your body and your fat are really good friends.

Sometimes I think I understand everything, then I regain consciousness.

Seen it all, Done it all, Can't remember most of it.

Blog Chain - Creative Curses!

2011-06-16T09:22:00.001-04:00

This round's topic was chosen by the always awesome Kate. Her topic:

Curses, you've been cursed! You can write no longer. The story well has run dry, and you can't even remember how to type. Now what do you do? Where do you channel your creative energies? And to what lengths would you go to break the curse?

Honestly, I've sat staring at this topic for a while. I just don't know what I'd do. It's unfathomable lol

So, I thought back to before I wrote "for real". I've always done a few stories here and there but once I got out of high school until after my son was born, I don't think I wrote a word, anywhere. Well, some poetry. But nothing major. Instead, most of my creative endeavors were focused on cross stitching.

I loved cross stitching. And I was pretty good at it. I'd do the really big, complicated pieces. Like this one I made while I was pregnant with my son:

In fact, thinking about it now, I kind of miss doing it. I might have to get back into it :D I for sure need to do one for my daughter at the very least :D (I did start one for her, but then she came early and life got hectic...and then I started writing again) :D

So, yeah...I guess if I couldn't write, I'd cross stitch, I'd play my piano, I'd learn to play the violin I bought and never learned to use - I'd focus that creative energy somewhere. I'd probably go pretty far to break the curse as well, but not to the extent that my family was jeopardized in any way.

But really, I just can't imagine the story well running dry. And if it did, I'd probably still be sitting there, staring off into space, dwelling on all the other stories I've read. If I couldn't thin of new ones, I could still remember the old :)

What would you do if such a horrible curse befell you?

Stop by Margie's blog tomorrow to see what she would do :)

Books and Merchandising

2011-06-15T11:31:00.001-04:00

On Friday over at Operation Awesome, Katrina put up an awesome post on merchandising and books. She talked about all the cool stuff you can get with some books (all the Harry Potter products, Arwen's necklace from LOTR, etc.).

I've bought a couple items from favorite books, among them:

The silver ring Jamie gives Claire in Diana Gabaldon's OUTLANDER

and a set of perfume from Jessica Verday's THE HOLLOW

I love stuff like this. It is so fun to have something real from a story you love. Even more fun when it's from one of your own stories. Like my gorgeous TREASURED LIES necklace :D (made by the awesomely talented Bonny Anderson - go check out her store HERE!)

And, the Team Zenn necklace I made for Elana Johnson's POSSESSION release giveaway (Team Jag has a "jag"ged lightning bolt pendant to go along with the "Vi"olet beads and silver butterflies.)

Having something tangible you can use to help market your book is both lucrative and just plain fun. Is this something you've ever thought of doing with your own books?

Ten Word Tuesday

2011-06-14T08:40:00.000-04:00

The job of the artist is to deepen the mystery.

~ Francis Bacon

POSSESSION Winner!

2011-06-13T10:00:00.000-04:00

My wonderful son, when asked to chose a number between 1 and 8, picked number.....6!!! Congrats to

Shari!!

Shoot me an email (addy on the sidebar --> ) with your address and I'll send out your very own copy of POSSESSION and your POSSESSION-themed necklace :D

Friday Funnies

2011-06-10T09:10:00.000-04:00

(Friday Funny quotes taken from Adair Lara's You Know When You're a Writer When...)

You know you're a writer when...You force yourself to have dinner alone in a restaurant just so you can write about it.

You know you're a writer when...At parties, you check out the bookshelves the way other people snoop through medicine cabinets.

You know you're a writer when...You revise an email ten times before pressing Send, and then spend the next hour frantically calling the computer guy to ask how you can get it back for just one more teensy change.