Morning All! Thank you so much for the "feel better soon" wishes. I appreciated them, and thank you, I am doing better today. :-) Hopefully my dad is, too. My house needs dusting. How do I know this? I've sneezed about 5 times this morning and I can feel my eyes welling up with that "teary-allergy feeling". Oh well. Just one more resolution, uh, I mean goal, for the new year. (For seeing what I mean by "goal" as opposed to "resolution" check out Marsha's blog post). Yesterday, despite everything, I reviewed an unfinished story I haven't looked at in awhile. It's not too bad, it just needs some tweaking and finishing. Ideas are going along for a story of mine, but I have to figure out if they fit with the story (the way it currently is) first. But at least I'm making some progress. I did some editing on the prologue to Surreal . I hope to get through chapter 1 and so on before too long. I feel like I've spent so much tim...

Morning All, Today is blah. Blah because last night I woke up with a bad case of acid reflux (at least that's what it felt like). I'm doing a little better, but my stomach still feels a bit nauseated or unhappy. Yucky metalliac taste in my mouth. My dad caught the stomach bug one of my sisters and her family had and threw up earlier (fortunately I live in my own home, so I wasn't aware of this until my mom told me). I'm hoping we don't get it. I haven't gotten very good rest this week. Today is gloomy and overcast...so blah, there, too. I'm hoping to be able to get some writing and editing done like I did yesterday. But I also need to get rest. I hope all of you are doing very well! It's almost New Years! Have A Winsome Wednesday!

Morning Folks, No writer knows exactly what's in store for him or her--whether they're the next big thing, or just end up having modest sales. Either way, writers do need to have the passion for what they do. I have been fortunate to meet some published and aspiring authors who are. Sometimes people say stuff that might get you down. Other times it might be just what you need. Some of the best advice I've read/been told/thought of in regards to writing is the following: *Read and read a lot. I know not every author is a huge reader, but I've noticed that for me, in particular, reading has helped me with my writing. *Write every day. Whether it's a story, a letter, blog, whatever. WRITE. *"Write what you'd want to read." (Thank you, Stephenie Meyer!) So true. Meyer says basically if you like reading what you write, chances are, others will, too. *Don't let fear rule you. This is something I've struggled with (and other authors, too), but if you ...

Hello All, I'm posting this a day early (consider this my post for Monday,Dec. 28th), but just to alert to a few things: 1. On the right hand margin are some updates... A. quotes from a few of my stories and B. my writing New Year's Resolutions 2. I'll probably be blogging until Thursday, then take a break for the weekend since my husband has 3 days off. (Friday, Saturday and Sunday). Also, I have been doing some writing...on a work in progress (a Christmas novel I'm working on). I've done a bit of work on Conjure A Man and another story that's still sketching itself out. Reading has been of major importance, too. For Christmas I got several new books: As You Wish by Jackson Pearce (who is female, by the way) Coffeehouse Angel by Suzanne Selfors The Sacred Romance by Brent Curtis & John Eldredge On Writing by Stephen King. I already have heard how great On Writing is, and I've been anxious to read it. I haven't read it, yet, but I'm going...

Morning All, Yesterday I didn't have time to blog because I had to head out of the house to get to my parents' house to go get my hair done. When we [my mom & I] got back my younger brother and his fiancee had arrived [they also brought their little dog with them] so my son and I stayed over there for several hours. When we got back I had to eat dinner, then we headed out for the rest of the evening. Didn't get back until after 10 p.m. I was pretty tired last night. Today I'm planning on baking gingerbread (yum yum). Possibly do some muffins (although from a box, not from scratch. When I was at the grocery store I couldn't remember what I'd need for my from-scratch cinnamon muffins, so I bought box mixes). Because the story from Friday didn't get further than Janice staring out the window at the snow I decided to nix that idea for now. Maybe I'll save it for the New Year. I'm not sure what's on my plate for the rest of the week, but I think ...

Morning Folks, For today's post I'm trying something new (just for Fridays, with the results posted on Monday--that is, if the idea takes off). If this idea takes off, I might do it every Friday. So what's the idea? A game. I know, I know sounds like a lame attempt to get commenter, but I was thinking about this last night in bed and I remember doing this on some message boards. Of course, I have to make it relevant to writing...it just wouldn't be right to post here otherwise. So here we go... I'm going to put ONE line of a story. One line only. And in the comment section each commenter adds ONE line. Either over the weekend or Monday I'll put all the lines together and post it in a post. So here we go... (I'm calling the Story "The Moment") Here's my 1 Sentence (Line): Janice looked out her window. Now it's your turn...the first person to comment on this blog posts the next line, then the person after that posts the next line to the p...

Hello Everyone, Okay, today's topic has nothing to do with the pile of stories you're currently working on, or even your rejection slips. It has to do with those stories who you started writing at first and then said "This won't work" or "I think I better put this one on hold indefinitely...unless something grabs me." I'm sure we all have stories like that. Ones we got excited about and then was like "Wait, no I'm not ready to write this, it's not coming together, what was I THINKING???!!" This is what I'm calling the "Writers' Rejection Pile". I remember on a computer I used to have (that has long since crashed, poor computer; it was properly mourned, now we're just hoping one day my younger brother will be able to unlock its secrets and pull out some files we had on there, that didn't make their way to disc!) But I remember I had a couple of stories. One was an anthology of short stories, which included s...

Afternoon Folks, Okay, fellow writers, be honest. When you get fed up with your characters, admit that you fantasize about writing them jumping off a cliff...or perhaps imagine them getting zapped by lightning. We all deal with writer's block, frustration and characters who don't want to do what they're told. How does an author let off steam? Here's your chance to find out... I've been known to go "on hiatus" from a story. If I'm getting to a point where something is annoying me to no end, I take a break--or I focus on another project. Reading has also been a good escape for me. I also tell people about my frustration--sometimes talking out a problem helps. So what's you method? Have A Wild Wednesday!

I actually won't be looking for caffienated tea because it's not so much the coffee--it's the CAFFEINE I'm supposed to avoid. Sad day. LOL

Morning/Afternoon All, I have to have sympathy. I know, I'm not usually one to ask for a pity party, but in this case, I think I might actually need one. I'm having reflux issues and so I emailed one of my doctors (the 2 doctors are married to each other and own a family practice, I've been to both the husband and wife on different occasions for different things). I emailed because I really didn't want to call the office and wait for a call back or have to go in and negotiate the dang hospital complex parking lot. My doctor wrote me back told me what to do, but she also warned that I should avoid certain foods. Among the foods mentioned...caffeine and chocolate. (I can handle avoiding peppermint, that ain't so hard, and tomatoes I can avoid). But coffee and chocolate??? Okay, the chocolate I've been mostly avoiding for awhile now because of my diet--but CHRISTMAS is coming! I was going to make FUDGE...my sister and her husband make Million Dollar Pie--it has cho...

Good Morning All, My weekend was nice and quiet for the most part (other than Friday evening when I went up to my high school Alma mater to see my son's Godsister perform in the choir--she did not do a solo, but it was still fun). Saturday and Sunday were pretty quiet, though, which is fine :-) I've been wrestling with the question of approach and the way to write one particular story for some time (if you all remember previous entries about my trying to revise this story, you know precisely which one I'm talking about and how many times I've been trying to figure out what to do with it). I don't know if this new approach is going to work or not, but it brings up the question I've often brought up, which is when one method isn't working, that a writer should try a new one. Do you write mainly third person omniscient? If that's not working, try third person limited, or even try a whole different pov altogether. Trying to start the book with an argument bu...

Morning Folks, Goodness! What is it about other people's blogs that gets my ideas going? I have to give credit to Marsha, because her blog post on writers being "liars" triggered this idea: My comment [on Marsha's blog] talked about the fact that I can't resist writing fiction. As a little girl I used to love fairy tales (I still do, to be honest) and always wanted to be a fairy tale princess and so now vicariously, through my stories, I'm able to be a princess, a witch (Conjure A Man ) , and a shape shifter of sorts (Surreal ). How cool is that? Makes you wonder at the possibilities. I mean look at J.K. Rowling. She got to be a wizard and witches (Harry Potter ), Stephenie Meyer got to be a new form of vampire and werewolf--plus an alien life form (The Twilight Saga, The Host ). Gail Carson Levine took up fairy tales and became Ella (Ella Enchanted) and several other people (Fairest, Ever )--including the well-meaning, but mistake-prone fairy, Lucinda (The...

Afternoon All, Okay, let's just say I'm blinking in amazement right now. I never expected comment I made on someone else's blog would generate so much traffic on my comment section (especially on one about laughing LOL). But in any case, thank you for the nice comments and the compliments. I appreciate it. Please, if you have something to say about another blog where I posted a comment, direct it to my email: bethanyintexas@yahoo.com I'll be happy to correspond with you about it there. I'm not trying to be rude, I just like to keep my blog pretty much about writing since that's it's purpose (NO offense meant to anyone ). Anyway, moving along. I sent my revised chapter 1 of Conjure A Man to the illustrious Tessy (my CP) and she sent me back comments (again, some good ones). A few things I'm gonna have to take more time to think about. On another note, until further notice, CAM is on hiatus. I just need to get away from it for now. I love the idea, and ...

Morning All, Once again Bane gave me this idea with his blog post . With all the publicity I'm giving his blog, he should be getting a lot of visitors LOL. Oh and Marsha, too. Marsha's Walmart Post also plays a role in inspiring today's post. First of all, I have to tie it in with writing...since my blog is almost strictly about writing and writing path. So I'll do it this way. If any of you all have read either of my parodies, you'll remember how goofy my sense of humor is. Les was willing to have me parody his life. First when I made up the character of Catalina in Because Of The Pie , and the one I did for him and his friend, Bob in The Adventures of Super Les And His SideKick, Bob . Of course, there's other funny writings out there. Like Dave Barry and his various books. Or Jim Davis's Garfield or any other comic strips. But other than people's writing books with comedy in it, or lines/characters that make you laugh out loud (LOL) what else out th...

Morning Folks, Amid the bustle of changing passwords in various places due to the fact that yesterday my poor computer picked up a virus (which masqueraded as a Security Tool that I thought my husband had installed on the computer, yes, it was my fault and I felt terrible, but my husband was very nice about it and said I hadn't known--from now on unless I know for sure something is on our computer I'm not doing anything with it until I've consulted my husband). Some time ago there was a big kick up over a (less popular) author suing another popular author claiming this popular author copied them. What ended up happening is that the judge ruled they were two different stories--nothing alike and threw it out. The other thing that happened was that some fans of the popular author investigated and found out that the popular author's book was copyrighted before the one who thought they were being plagiarized . Another thing that happened was that fans of the popular author w...

Howdy Folks, Okay, I know, I go on and on about the RWA chapter I'm joining, but I can't say enough about how great these people are. I went to the Christmas party on Dec. 5th and it was a blast! I met this lady named Anne who writes paranormal and began talking to her about Conjure A Man and my frustration with Delaney. She and my wonderful CP, Tessy, started throwing out ideas. I sat there asking "Okay, but how would that work?" And answers came flying back. They thought I might have resented their input. But on the contrary, I was glad to have it. All I needed to do was figure out where it would go. So, now I'm re-reading the pages I have written (making any changes that jump out at me) and reassessing the situation. I also finally managed to send the revised Chapter 1 to Tessy (it's about time, I think!) Anyway, what do you all think about having a brainstorming session? Bring whatever you're having a problem with and I could post it in a post and we ...

Afternoon All, Okay, it's not snowing A LOT and definitely not what they get out in the colder places of the world, but it's still snowing. Yes, I went out in it with my son and even took some pictures (gotta find the attachment so I can upload them onto my computer). My son wasn't real excited about it, actually. He wasn't quite sure what to make of it (it doesn't snow much here, which I'm glad about. I can only put up with snow for a little while before it gets to be an "old story"). But anyway...do you have snow in your stories? I do in at least one of mine (a Christmas story). However, that's a side project and not something I'm focusing on. I don't do snow much even in my stories. I guess it just doesn't occur to me. What about you? What type of weather do you find you most write in your stories? (I generally have sunshine or rain). Have A Fabulous Friday! (And an awesome weekend, too!)

Morning All, What makes you laugh out loud when you're reading a book? Is it the characters' antics? The mishaps? The witty dialogue or all of it together? In The Perfect Christmas by Debbie Macomber, her character, a lonely single woman in her 30's seeks out the help of a matchmaker (a male single psychologist) who gives her a series of 3 tasks, which both show her things about herself as well as put her in embarrassing/humorous situations (like the fact that she's supposed to zip down from the ceiling of a Mall to the floor dressed as an elf, only to have a costume mishap...I felt sorry for her on that one. Or when someone dumps coffee on her while she's ringing the bell for donations at one of the Mall entrances). There's other "laugh out loud" moments in books. Like in Kerrelyn Sparks' book when the vampires are talking about Gregori having gotten drunk off of synthetic blood mixed with champagne when he acted as Ginny pig when the vampire sc...

Good Morning All, There's this saying I've seen on different items for sale in catalogs and I think it's hysterical. It says: "Be careful or else you'll end up in my next book" I love that. I think it's perfect for writers. I have a pin that says something like "Romance Authors Do It Write". And I've seen other slogans like that. How "careful" does the world actually have to be about authors? Well, that depends on who the author is, the genre, and exactly what makes the author's mind go "Yes! There's an idea!" For me if I hear something particularly funny or witty I might file it away for later...or I might not use it at all. The interesting thing about writers existing in a world full of all different types of people, circumstances and situations is that it gives us immense fuel for our imaginations. Some of us thrive on the more realistic possibilities; while others, like myself, focus on the less realistic, an...

Good Morning Folks, Don't you just love that saying? Okay, maybe you do, maybe you don't, but I think it's cool. So yesterday I did (as I said I was going to) actually get to writing on Conjure A Man . Chapter 3 is finished being rewritten (for now). But chapter 4 might need some work. The idea for chapter 4 isn't bad (I mean it makes sense Delaney's vampire friend, Caruso, would want to meet Pierre, especially since he suggested Delaney summon up a human in the first place). However, I'm not sure how well it works (hence the "dash it all" title for today's post). But, that doesn't mean it can't work. We writers sometimes have to make a decision. Sometimes this decision is easy and sometimes it's painful. And that decision is whether or not a scene works in one particular place or even at all for the story in question. Sometimes we have these "Dash it all!" moments where we think "If I have to revise this story one more ...