Thanksgiving

Hope everyone has a happy and safe Thanksgiving! Ours is actually going to be fairly low key. We might go over to a friends' house for a little while.

Other than that--we have a meal planned and are going to get out Christmas decorations.

I plan on subjecting my husband to Christmas music on and off from tomorrow (Thanksgiving Day) until New Year's LOL

Have A Wonderful Holiday!

Take It Easy

Hi Folks,

Today is a "take it easy" day due to the fact that yesterday afternoon my son developed an ear infection. He's on antibiotics and is doing much, much better...however, I'm sleep deprived and haven't felt great because of allergy problems probably a touch of asthma. I'm going to the doc's office today to see if I'm doing everything I should be doing and if there's anything else I need to do. Needless to say, I've been taking it very easy today.

Good news is, I'm reading Christie Craig's Gotcha! It's pretty good.

As to everything else, I'm tired after a bad night (my son decided to wake up about 3 times) and then he never did go back to sleep after waking early this morning (no nap so far) and I'm going to have to get ready to go to the doc's office so no chance of a nap for awhile.

But, you know...we all have good days and bad days whether in writing or our real lives, so we just have to do the best we can. I hope all of you are having a good day and getting the rest you need.

I'll be okay, just wanted to let you all know that's why there's not a usual blog posting on here.

Have A Terrific Tuesday!

Myths About Writers

Afternoon Folks,

I thought we'd do a post to dispel some of the myths people seem to have about writers. I'll put the ones that first come to mind then y'all can chime in.

Myth: Writing is a great way to make a lot of money.

I'm not sure exactly how this one matriculated. Probably in the wake of some of the big best sellers (i.e. Stephen King, Anne Rice, Stephenie Meyer, JK Rowling, and the like) but most of the time writers put in more money for their writing than they do get out of it.

Generally a writer doesn't make a ton of money unless somehow his/her book is a blockbuster hit and blasts through what the author owes in the advance (which is paid back to publishers through royalties).

Most writers I've met and talked to are not millionaires. I'm not saying it can't happen, I'm saying it's not one of those things that's automatic.

Myth: Writing Is Easy Anybody Can Do It.

Okay, granted this isn't entirely a myth, but it's not entirely true, either. Sure, anybody with any amount of knowledge of or ability to string sentences together in a coherent form can write a story. In fact, most anyone could write if they put their minds to it. Doesn't mean it's good. Doesn't mean it will sell (heck, it doesn't even mean us aspiring authors will sell or even that established authors will continue to sell--the publishing world isn't an exact Science).

By the way...writing is sometimes easy and sometimes it's not. There are good days and bad days just like with anything else. Sometimes there's tremendous writer's block (met someone who suffered writer's block for a year) and there's days of tremendous inspiration where everything just flows. It's not always easy and it's not always hard.

Myth: I'm Not Good Enough.

This is one authors everywhere have to fight within themselves. If you don't think you're good enough how do expect anyone else will think you are? You have to have some belief in yourself. You have to believe in your characters and in your imagination.

There's people with wonderful talent out there, who freeze up at the mere mention of trying to get their work published because they don't think they're "good enough". Exactly what is the measure of an author being "good enough"?

Everybody has different tastes, you can't measure your own success by someone else's success and/or failure. (This is one I've had to remind myself of, by the way).

Myth: All Writers Lead Incredibly Exciting (Romantic, Action-Filled, Etc...,) Lives.

This might contain some truth depending on who you are (like maybe a CIA agent who writes action stories or a person who writes romance who leads an incredibly romantic life), however, it doesn't mean this is true of all writers.

I've met writers who lead very ordinary lives. They pick up their kids from school, they have jobs, or work at home. They worry about the roof being fixed, the rent being paid, the crazy hole in the backyard (okay I haven't heard of anyone having a weird hole in the backyard without an explanation, but hey, like most things, it could happen).

The point being...authors are human. They can't help it, they are. In fact, I talk about this in another post.

The point is, authors are just like you or me. They have concerns, fears, dreams, wishes, and good days and bad days.

YOUR TURN:

What are some of the myths/legends you've heard of writers and why are they/aren't they true?

Have A Mysterious Monday!

Sequel To Friday's Post

Hey Folks,

Normally I haven't been posting on Saturdays, but I'm making this one exception.

First off, if you haven't, get to Friday's post please do so...Elizabeth Pina made an appearance in the comment section :-) Shout out to Elizabeth!

Second of all, I mentioned I was going to see The Twilight Saga: New Moon and I did.

Let's just say: AWE-some! The wolves totally rocked. The pacing is slow--but with very good reason--Bella pretty much clams up when Edward leaves (no I'm not really giving anything away here, most people know that happens). The Volturi just kicked butt--majorly impressed with Michael Sheen as Aro. He EMBODIED that character. Few things were changed--which makes sense, but totally didn't take away from the movie. Very very close to the book itself.

I won't go into depth on my rants about the viewers (cell phone lights, and loud munching) maybe people had an emergency and needed the cell phone on...I don't know and I do like snacks with movies, but even on a release day I've never had it be so distracting before.

But other than the problems with distracting munching and cell phone lights I really enjoyed the movie a lot.

I'm not sure those who aren't "Twilight" fans will enjoy it...but I think it was fun and really good.

Here's looking forward to June 2010 for "Eclipse"!

Have A Satisfying Saturday!

Fangtastical Friday

Morning All,

It's Friday! Although, for me, that doesn't mean break from work since I stay home with my son and my husband is working on Saturday and Sunday (although only 1/2 day on Sunday and part of the day on Saturday). But it's still really cool...why?

Because it's November 20, 2009!

So, what's so important about that?

Before I get into the "fang" part of it (like that's not a major hint LOL) there's something else I really want to bring up.

Today is the day that Elizabeth Pina's E-book gets released! It's called Learning To Let Go. She told me she also wants to release it on CD so people can read it on their computers. Especially for the folks that have yet to get a e-reader in the first place LOL. I don't know where it's being sold, so you might have to go to her website to find out. Although, I'm not sure if she has anything but the publisher's name up. But today is the release date for that e-book. The book is Christian Inspirational.

She's a really sweet person and a lot of fun. I got to sit next to her at the Todd Stone Workshop. She's working on some Romantic Suspense, now. I believe she has a book signing in December in League City, Texas.

The other news...

wait for it...

drum roll...

Today The Twilight Saga: New Moon is released in theaters! Last night I was watching The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien and I laughed so hard because he was talking about brooding vampires that made teenage girls scream, so he decided to have one of his own and a guy dressed in pale make up and black clothes came out looking all dramatic and brooding. He was so hysterical.

But it didn't end there.

Then he said he had also heard werewolves were big, so he got another assistant, named Wolf Boy. A topless guy who stared penetratingly at him. That was funny too because he had something on his arm that looked like the tattoo the wolf pack has in New Moon.

Then a guy dressed as Frankenstein came out and Conan told him he wasn't sexy enough, so the guy ripped his shirt off, revealing a costume with like a 14-pack on his chest LOL. He couldn't rip the whole shirt and Conan started making comments about Frankenstein being able to bend metal but couldn't rip cotton. Wolf Boy had to help him.

Later on, Wolf Boy was making his pectorals go up and down and Conan kept saying it was creepy.

Anyway, I got a good laugh over it.

I'm hoping today to get some writing done since this week has been not the most productive of my life. Although, I did do some edits to Conjure A Man, so that's good.

I've also been doing a bunch of reading. I put a Lurlene MacDaniel book on hold because I've read it before, but I was re-reading it because I'm reading a Debbie Macomber book I haven't read. I'm reading Right Next Door, which has been lots of fun. In the second novella, this widow has a 15 year old son who's learning to drive and there's a very funny line in there about her having gotten more spiritual thanks to her son being behind the wheel.

The next book on my list to read is Christie Craig's Gotcha! She's an NWHRWA member and everyone has told me how wonderful her books were, so I thought I'd check them out. Gotcha! looked like fun, so I decided to start with that one.

What are you currently reading, if anything? How's your writing coming? If you're in NaNo, how's that going?

Have A Fangtastic Friday!

Calling In Sick

Evening Folks,

Sorry about not posting today. I haven't felt very well today. Had a bad headache (is better than it was, by the way) but I also had some dizziness. It would seem my hypoglycemia decided to act up today. I'm doing better, but I'm taking it very easy.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll be much better. Hope everybody else is doing well.

Have A Thrilling Rest Of Your Thursday!

Yay Books!

Morning All,

The title for today's post is a play on a song called "Yay Toast!" (I don't know where to find it, but it's a funny song).

But more than that it's because in the last month I've been to Barnes & Noble twice. TWICE! Yay!

Okay, so I didn't get myself anything...but I did browse through several books that look interesting (and one that got reprinted I was excited to see that because I really liked it).

Last night I was doing some Christmas shopping (I finally got started a few days ago. Last year I was already Christmas shopping in October! You see, I have 13 nieces and nephews--and we all keep adding to that number, so I have to make sure I start early enough so I can find out what they're all into and shop accordingly).

In my family--since there's so many of us (including spouses) we are now given a name of a family member to buy for with a price limit. One of my sisters has a program that takes names and matches them (it's a statistical program but it can do this for us, how cool is that?)

Anyway, so last night I was Christmas shopping. It was awesome. I love author Gail Carson Levine and am excited to share her with young nieces and Noel Streatfeild of Dancing Shoes, Theatre Shoes, Ballet Shoes, Skating Shoes fame. They've been reprinted--finally--after all these years! Plus picking out bookmarks and a book for a friend's baby's birthday party that we're planning to go to later this month.

But you know what's so wonderful about going to Barnes & Noble and other bookstores? Not just that I LOVE to read, but also it reminds me how vast, varied and extensive the various types of books there are. How there's all kinds of things for all kinds of readers and different ideas have the power to inspire us writers.

How exciting is that?

Also, there's such a great smell about bookstores. I mean...walk in you breathe in this scent of serenity, and calm that comes with reading. I don't know, it just is a comforting aroma to me.

So, what do you find most exciting about bookstores? What types of books inspire you?

Have A Wonderful Wednesday!