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Showing posts from February, 2010

Terminology

Happy Friday Everyone, Ever seen the musical (or watched the movie version) The Music Man ? In it the mayor says "Watch your phraseology!" when his daughter uses slang. While thinking about this blog post the words "I devour books" came to mind, then of course, that quote popped into my head. Have you noticed that if you translated certain phrases literally they wouldn't be quite as fun as they are? Like devouring books. Who really wants to eat books? (Other than Kim Lenox's character in her Shadow Guards series ) I mean I read books at a pretty fast rate, so figuratively I devour them, but literally? Nah, I don't think I'd want to eat them. What about the figure of speech, "I could eat a horse"? Obviously we all know it means the person's very hungry, but what if someone (like say, the character, Amelia Bedelia --books by Peggy Parish ) took the speaker seriously and served them up a horse and handed them a fork and knife? Speaking o

The Quotables

Hello Thursday-ers, Recently I've been on this The Princess Bride movie quoting kick. (Could you tell since one of the posts this week was a quote from that movie?) That movie just was great. I've seen it so many times and I'd watch it again. But, there's also other movies out there that are fun to quote. For instance: 1776 . It actually quotes from some of the diaries and letters of the members of the Continental Congress of the time (such as John Adams, Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Hancock). (Where do you think we get the phrase: "Put your John Hancock on that?" think the story behind John Hancock's signature on the Declaration Of Independence) Aside from the obvious historical relevance of the quotes from actual documents, there's some really awesome quotes whether they came from those documents are not within the movie: Howard Da Silva as Ben Franklin: "If we don't hang together we'll most assuredly hang separately." T

News Alert!

Happy Wednesday Everybody, So, Tuesday I went for my yearly check up with the doc and she said I'm looking good. When the results come in I'll know more. I have to get blood taken, but she said just do it within the next couple of weeks. Definitely not my favorite way to spend part of my morning (getting poked) but, all part and parcel of trying to take care of oneself. (Now if I was more disciplined about getting enough sleep). The Northwest Houston Chapter of The RWA ( NWHRWA ) is hosting their annual contest. For further information, click here . Best wishes to all who enter :-) Editing Surreal has slowed down...not because I'm done, but because I'm currently needing to recharge my editing batteries. But I'm still working on it (just about every day). I've started reading a paranormal series by Alyssa Day . It starts with Atlantis Rising . So far it's very good. Her website is awesome, by the way. I'm gonna be reading another paranormal book called

Oh The Indignity!

Happy Tuesday Folks, If you were to hunt through my pack-rat storage areas eventually you'd come across my high school's literary magazine (that during my four years of high school was only published once, well, as far as I know). In there, if you know my maiden name, you'd find a poem written by me. If you read the lines carefully you'd find out there's a mistake. I forgot a word. I believe it was that little tiny word, "and". For a writer, that's excessively embarrassing to forget a word, misspell a word, typos or putting in the wrong word. We're supposed to know words. They're our life. Yet, even us writers, with some sort of insight into the world of words, are, in fact, human. Yes...*GASP* we make mistakes. Despite how much on a pedestal you put a writer you particularly like, that writer has, at least once in his or her lifetime, made a mistake...somewhere, somehow in some century. The other night, in an online conversation with a friend

"True Love, he said true love!" --Valerie, "The Princess Bride"

Hello Everyone, Happy Monday! Hope everyone had a good weekend. Mine was all right. Sunday night me, my husband and my son went to Chili's for dinner, that was fun (I'm not being sarcastic, I promise). Saturday was fairly low key, but nice. Recently a fellow writer friend of mine and I were talking about the movie The Princess Bride. I'm reminded how well rounded that story is. It has pretty much everything. Romance, action, comedy, suspense. However, there's one theme that resonates...true love. True love...the reason many of us write romance...or even the reason some of us write what we write... The love of words upon the page, the love of another. The love of storytelling. It's in us, a part of us and influences us. We all have our definitions of true love. For some, it's the ultimate sacrifices a person can make for another. For others, it's about self improvement. Still, for others, it's about doing what you most enjoy or being with the person you

The Writer's Survival Kit

Happy Friday One And All, Today's post is dedicated to the awesome folks in the NWHRWA . They're great people, lots of fun and really talented writers (I've read several of the members work including: Christie Craig, Kim Lenox , Ciara Gold, and Cheri Jetton ). Please note: Today's post is to be FUN . We're all working hard on writing, editing, querying, furthering our careers and everything in our lives, we need a chance to cut loose every now and again. This is also an opportunity for you to put in your own ideas of what works for a survival kit. Anyway...read on... First of all...for a lot of people you need chocolate. One of the things about chocolate is that there's actually some kind of study that says chocolate is good for you ( in moderation ) especially dark chocolate. One such article talks about dark chocolate lowering the possibility of cardiovascular problems in men. Although, the article warns that white chocolate doesn't contain the things

Road Map

Hi Everybody, At the Conference I attended October 2009 (The Novelist Boot Camp one) Todd Stone remarked that the writing world was one of the only professions where people competed against each other, but also were willing to help each other. (You can get some of the information/materials about the workshop from my previous posts. Click here , here , here and here ). So, in the spirit of helping each other, I thought I'd outline some of the materials and sites that have helped me thus far: When I was in my early twenties I found out about The Writers Digest School . I took a course on Short Story & Novel Writing, working closely with a published writer. I would read the material, do the assignments and mail the assignments to my instructor. I learned a lot and it helped me begin to understand how to shape my writing better. To check out Writer's Digest Magazine click here . Another magazine that I read was highly recommended is Publisher's Weekly Magazine

Roll On The Floor Laughing

Howdy All, People who know me well know I'm a generally happy person. I love to laugh, I love to make others laugh and I especially love to laugh while reading books. If there's something in there that's funny and makes me laugh out loud, then that just makes the book even more awesome in my estimation. I have characters in my story that lend support to my main characters, but also, in a sense provide the comic portion of my story. Because laughter is good for people. Ever heard the old adage "laughter is good for the soul"? Well, I believe that. Now, I don't laugh all the time. But, I do laugh often. In fact, it's odd if I go a week without laughing at least once. Authors like Kerrelyn Sparks, MaryJanice Davidson have made me laugh, to name just a couple. Dave Barry's another good one for a laugh. What are some authors that have made you LOL ? Do you intergrate humor into your books? Laugh long and laugh often. I wish you much giggling :-) Have A W

Who Am I Behind The Pen?

Hello Everyone, The question "Who Am I?" is one that fascinates me, not just about myself, but other writers. I read mysteries and I see aspects of interesting thought processes, ideas, beliefs. In romance you get a sense of " awww ...they live happily ever after" and in other works you meet all kinds of characters. But does this glimspe into how an author pens their work, who they are in real life? I've wondered, who's John Girsham behind stories like A Walk To Remember and The Notebook? Based on his biography on his page, I'd say a devoted husband and father. But, who is he? Someone with a strong sense of humor? Quiet? Extroverted? Some authors have blogs and you get to know them through what they say or things they like to listen to (example, Robin McKinley...she seems to have a fondness for flowers) Some writers, like Stephen King, have colorful pasts that have affected their writing, and their lives. Others are quieter, and you don't know a

I Participated In A Write-A-Thon

Happy Monday Everyone, Sunday afternoon I went over to one of the members of the RWA chapter I'm a member of held a Write-A- Thon at her house. It was a ton of fun. I arrived there later than I meant (didn't get ready as fast as I thought I was going to), but I was told it was no big deal. For awhile everyone just kind of mingled and got set up. Some people had already started working. Then, right around 3 PM things got started and I sat down to work on some edits on Surreal . There was quite a bit of food available (including chocolate and coffee), so people could take snack breaks. (there went my diet LOL ). There was also a published author holding brain storming in one of the rooms. I sat in because I heard a lively discussion going on and got curious. She said some really good things about character arcs and making sure there's growth and everything (particularly in Romance and Women's Fiction). I didn't ask any questions, but I took in what she was saying be

Hopeless Romantic

Good Evening Everyone, Yes, it's unusual that I post more than once in a day, but I figured considering I'm a hopeless romantic and since I write paranormal romance, it would be odd if I didn't say something in honor of February 14 th --Valentine's Day. Also known as St. Valentine's Day. There's a lot of interesting stories surrounding Feb. 14 th , but if you look up St. Valentine and check out this article you'll get a clue as to who the person (or persons, since there's probably more than one St. Valentine) were. There's a lot of stories about him. In any case, I'm very blessed to have my Valentine and husband, who is a wonderful, wonderful man. Our Valentine's is going to be rather quiet, which is okay. I truly don't mind. But, in honor of the day, I wanted to share something with you: As you all read in a previous post I listened to several different songs (and artists) while writing Surreal . Now, normally my stories don't have

Go To Your Musical Happy Place

Happy Friday One And All, No, I'm not talking about musicals, as in the plays with songs, I'm talking about actual music. While writing Surreal I listened to Chris De Burgh, Ramones , Paul Anka , Buddy Holly, REM, Henry Purcell Clark (Trumpet Voluntary ) , The Righteous Brothers, They Might Be Giants, Optional 2, Roxette ( It Must've Been Love ), Bonnie Taylor, Neil Diamond, The Everly Brothers, Lowen & Navarro, Eric Genius, Kci & Jo Jo, and Savage Garden. Quite a motley crew, especially considering that the They Might Be Giants songs I listened to were from one of their kids' albums (they have 2 out that I know about), Optional 2 a mish -mash of musical stylings and hip hop, and Ramones ...well, Ramones is punk rock. Considering that I was writing a paranormal romance, some of this might seem a bit out of place. In all honesty, sometimes it was just something was playing while I was writing and other times, the mood just hit me to go ahead and put it o

A Bit Of This And That

Happy Thursday Everyone, The edits to Surreal are coming along, although, now I almost feel like I'm performing surgery. I had to change some things and I ended up cutting several pages to accommodate the changes. I think I'm able to use most of the original work now (with whatever edits it needs to clean it up). It amazes me how much time this takes and how hours just fly back as I'm working on it. If you need time to move along quickly, I recommend you get into serious editing with your manuscripts and watch time "fly". Yesterday I finished up a Debbie Macomber book that contained 2 novellas. The book was called The Man You'll Marry and it was fun all about an "enchanted" wedding dress. I enjoyed it. She has some really good stories out. I especially recommend her Between Friends and The Perfect Christmas . Another author I really enjoy is Regina Doman . Her work has suspense and romance. She's given permission to some film students to do

Construction Ahead: Interal Editors At Work

Hello Everyone, Well, it appears that currently my job is editing. I had to take out some things I had on the blog margins (Encouragement of the Day, Movie Recommendations and a few other things) in an effort to fix the spacing problems I was having (don't know if you all saw the problem, but it kept showing up on my screen, so I finally got sick of it and decided to do something about it). I'm not sure how that all happened, but I've fixed it. If you really miss the things I took out, I'll see about putting them in at another time. I'm also deep in edits on Surreal . I know, I've talked about being disciplined about working on it for awhile, now, and I've finally gotten into it where I'm focused on it. The other manuscripts in the process of writing are on hold while I work solely on editing Surreal . So far it's going smoothly. I'm getting the word count down (a must) and fixing other things (also important). I'm reminding myself how much I

Sprinkle In The Fairy Dust

Howdy Folks, Do you know how much I love fairy tales? Have I forgotten to mention that lately? Okay, if I have, let me reiterate: I LOVE FAIRY TALES! I even love retellings of fairy tales / mythology (as many you already know). Here's some of my favorites: Beastly by Alex Flinn (re-telling of Beauty & The Beast ) Belle by Cameron Dokey (again, Beauty & The Beast) A Kiss In Time by Alex Flinn ( The Sleeping Beauty ) Midnight Pearls by Debbie Viguié ( The Little Mermaid ) Scarlet Moon by Debbie Viguié ( Little Red Riding Hood ) Wild Orchid by Cameron Dokey ( The Ballad Of Mulan ) Anyway, those are just a few, but you get the idea. Another series I like a lot are these: Shadow Of The Bear, Black As Night, Waking Rose all by Regina Doman (Can you guess which fairy tales influenced these books? In Order: Snow White & Rose Red, Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs, The Sleeping Beauty ). Fairy Tale Weddings by Debbie Macomber contains 2 novellas by Macomber that are fa

"Shiver Me Timbers!"

Ahoy, Mateys And Welcome To Another Week, Okay...I've talked about dragons, heroes , villains , the window characters, vampires and the like, now how about something else fun? PIRATES! I have no problems with people writing about pirates. In fact, one of my favorite Georgette Heyer books deals with a privateer. The book is called Beauvallet and it's awesome. Not sure what it is that makes pirates so fascinating...especially in romance novels. I guess it's the whole sexy pirate appeal for some. For me, I guess it's just seeing how love affects people--especially a character that's supposed to be intimdating, like a pirate. Another thing is pirates are utterly adventures. Take Pirates Of The Caribbean movies for instance. Lots of people were very fond of Johnny Depp's performance as Jack Sparrow and all the mystery, intrigue and adventure fond in those stories. In writing this blog, I did some searches and found a Pirate Code Of Honor also there's some ot

Here They Come: Writers In Public

Howdy Folks, Welcome to Friday! The weekend is on its way, hurray, hurray! Oh that totally puts me in mind of the movie The Princess Bride where Fezzik keeps making up all those rhymes and annoys Vizini . If you haven't seen the film, rent it, buy it, but see it! It's hysterical. I haven't read the book, but I've heard it's good. Ever wondered what would happen if writers looked like their profession? Like if you could pick them out in a crowd. You know, maybe a pen behind the ear, with a notebook in hand. Printer ink all over the fingers, looking a bit red-eyed from staying up all night working on their manuscript. Maybe a writer would be dressed in pajamas, with fuzzy bunny slippers, carrying around an agent or publishing contract. The thing about it all...as I've said before, writers are just ordinary folks. There's nothing (unless you're at a convention or at a writers' meeting) that would tell you that someone is a writer. Not on the outside.

Affirming One Another

Howdy Folks, Yep, I'm going Southern again...you'll have to pardon me, every now and again it comes out. You can take the girl outta Texas, but you can't take the Texas out of the girl (to go cliche on everyone). Welcome to Thursday's post...the wonderful anticipation of Friday and the chance to remind oneself every day is a gift. Today is say something positive about another blogger day. Pick one person, any person you know who blogs and say something cool about them. We're gonna focus on building each other up, because that's part of being fellow writers...helping each other. And sometimes a person just needs a pick-me-up. Now, I'm not saying this to try and get someone to write anything about me, I just feel in the world where there's a lot going on (some good and some not good) we all need that spark of "life is good" every now and again. Picking one person is very hard for me. There's several bloggers out there that I enjoy and so it

It's A Tense Situation

Hello Everyone, Interesting thing to note... Most books are written in past tense, 3rd person. I have come across some stories that are written in present tense, but still keep the 3rd person. There are stories written first person and present tense...even one of mine has that (it just really worked for that story...I've had people read and say "It works." I don't really know how to explain why). Third person past tense works a lot for most stories...I use it for most of mine, as well...why that is, I suppose, is because there isn't as much "I" so it doesn't sound so self-centered. But my question is...does anyone know where they usage of third person past tense really started (at least for fiction novels)? What keeps us using a certain POV and tense? What tense do you generally use? Have A Wondrous Wednesday!

Head Spinning

Hello Everyone, No, this isn't some take-off on The Exorcist , rather, this is me going "Yikes! I can't even be away from email for ONE day?" I had 28 emails in one email account. This includes junk mail. After I deleted the stuff I didn't need, it took time to answer a family email, then email back and forth with a friend about her Baby Shower this Saturday (that I was going to email the hostess about today), then I had to email the hostess of the shower to RSVP. Then I went to my writing email account. 12 emails, most of it spam, so I deleted the spam took a look at the ones that WEREN'T spam and then came here. You can't take a day off from email people, it doesn't work LOL. But it's okay. I don't mind really, I just was a bit surprised (even if most of it was junk). Today is my son's birthday, so I sang Happy Birthday to him and hoping his present is here (gotta check the mailbox). He took it with good humor, but acted a bit embarrassed