I hope everyone had an awesome Halloween weekend! Mine was good. I discovered that when you are a woman, with a man’s wig on your head, and you’re trimming the wig with electric clippers, you know you’ve gone overboard for Halloween. I was Michael Scott of The Office at my office, for a department costume contest. I was actually sort of digging the tie.
Other news of the weekend – I continue to have internet issues which I am battling with CenturyLink about. Don’t you all love paying for services you don’t get? Let’s keep our fingers crossed that it continues working this time. Hmmmm, what else. I saved a lizard from an untimely feline demise. I realized that my two favorite sodas, Coke and Dr. Pepper, create an amazingly delicious concoction when mixed together.
I got a rejection today. Sigh. I wonder at what point I’m going to have a major writers identity crisis meltdown. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time. But, until then, I’m just going to keep enjoying my favorite season. Can’t believe it’s November! I love, love, love the holidays! And I’m definitely thinking about all my new writer friends that are participating in NaNoWriMo. Good luck everyone!
Well fellow writers, that’s all I have for the moment… I’ve got lots of catching up to do on everyone’s blogs since I haven’t had internet for the last five days. Goodnight!
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Saturday, October 30, 2010
A Saturday of Sunshine and Starbucks
I've been trying to stick to a Monday, Wednesday, Friday blog post schedule, but alas, my internet quit working Thursday night. I had to spend 45 minutes on the phone last night with the internet provider trying to get them to fix it. It would appear for the moment they have.
It's been a lovely day so far. I woke up early and went to a 5k run with my sister, and the morning was chilly and sunshiney gorgeous. Then we went to Starbucks and I got a grande pumpkin latte, which led to an amazing caffeine high, which led to being productive with some yard work. Now I'm ready to take a luscious afternoon nap. So, here is your teaser for the week, from Chapter Two. Have a great weekend!
She was abruptly aware of her senses as they came into sharp, diamond focus: images flashing into her peripheral vision, her ears picking up hundreds of distinct sounds, her skin tingling all over. Her heart quickened almost painfully and her throat went dry. All of this happened in a fraction of a second, her body reacting to some unknown threat.
Adding to her panic was the fact that she’d never experienced anything like it before. She had no idea why her body was reacting as it was, but she abruptly felt an uncontrollable urge to look behind her and see if anyone was following her. It was a completely irrational instinct since of course many people were behind her on the crowded street.
She turned her head, very slowly, to look behind her. Not knowing what she was looking for, her eyes scanned the crowd, skipping over each figure in less than a second. Her logical mind was absent as some sort of foreign intuition took over. Then her eyes rested on what she knew without a doubt was the source of her instinctual fear: about twenty feet back, a tall figure in a dark cloak strode swiftly in her direction.
It's been a lovely day so far. I woke up early and went to a 5k run with my sister, and the morning was chilly and sunshiney gorgeous. Then we went to Starbucks and I got a grande pumpkin latte, which led to an amazing caffeine high, which led to being productive with some yard work. Now I'm ready to take a luscious afternoon nap. So, here is your teaser for the week, from Chapter Two. Have a great weekend!
She was abruptly aware of her senses as they came into sharp, diamond focus: images flashing into her peripheral vision, her ears picking up hundreds of distinct sounds, her skin tingling all over. Her heart quickened almost painfully and her throat went dry. All of this happened in a fraction of a second, her body reacting to some unknown threat.
Adding to her panic was the fact that she’d never experienced anything like it before. She had no idea why her body was reacting as it was, but she abruptly felt an uncontrollable urge to look behind her and see if anyone was following her. It was a completely irrational instinct since of course many people were behind her on the crowded street.
She turned her head, very slowly, to look behind her. Not knowing what she was looking for, her eyes scanned the crowd, skipping over each figure in less than a second. Her logical mind was absent as some sort of foreign intuition took over. Then her eyes rested on what she knew without a doubt was the source of her instinctual fear: about twenty feet back, a tall figure in a dark cloak strode swiftly in her direction.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Lavender Sky
Happy Wednesday! Today I've been exercising my brain trying to think of something to post. Which kind of led me to thinking about how inspiration strikes us writers. For instance, today I was inspired by the sky, which was a perfect lavender color right before nightfall. Not too pink, not too blue, just the right shade of pale, smoky purple. And earlier in the day I started wondering about history and how funny it would be if someone just made up fictional characters or fictional events, and wrote all these stories that they passed off as real happenings, just to screw with people centuries later who read about it.
I also sometimes get ideas for my books from dreams. Yes, I do realize I sound like a Stephenie Meyer copycat - but it was happening to me way before she was dreaming of sparkly, muscular immortals (I know because I read one of her interviews. Or maybe more than one.). As for characters, those are easiest for me. They just kind of pop into my head fully formed - what they look like, their personality, everything. While sometimes I realize new things about them later on, for the most part they show up ready for action.
So, how you do get inspired? And what do you do when it happens (do you carry a notepad, tape recorder, etc)? Three cheers for inspiration!!
I also sometimes get ideas for my books from dreams. Yes, I do realize I sound like a Stephenie Meyer copycat - but it was happening to me way before she was dreaming of sparkly, muscular immortals (I know because I read one of her interviews. Or maybe more than one.). As for characters, those are easiest for me. They just kind of pop into my head fully formed - what they look like, their personality, everything. While sometimes I realize new things about them later on, for the most part they show up ready for action.
So, how you do get inspired? And what do you do when it happens (do you carry a notepad, tape recorder, etc)? Three cheers for inspiration!!
Monday, October 25, 2010
Musings...duality...multi-colored glasses
Hello, fellow writers! Weekly update on rejections and other pertinent writing business: I’ve gotten a couple new form rejections. I’ve also sent out about five new queries. Just plugging away, trying to maintain my optimism. All of your lovely and insightful comments make me feel so much better! Also, since I got some questions about me and my MC, I've added a couple pages to the blog which I hope you'll enjoy.
My musings of late… duality. As I was updating my blogger profile a couple weeks ago, I realized that in so many things I hold opposite opinions or preferences simultaneously. For instance, two of my very favorite movies – Under the Tuscan Sun and The Matrix. One a sappy chic flick, the other an intense action film. Music, too. On any given day on the drive to work, I might listen to Vivaldi and Green Day… Natalie Merchant and Linkin Park… Madonna and Dropkick Murphys. Even how I dress is eclectic – one day I might dress a little preppy and sophisticated, another I might wear khaki cut-offs and a hippy top. Ideas are often the same. I might feel one way about something, but at the same time have a very differing opinion.
So, is this just me, or is it a writer thing? I’ve kind of wondered if writers are more prone to seeing things through multi-colored glasses because we’re open-minded, out-of-the-box storytellers. We often put ourselves in the different perspectives of our characters, so are used to seeing things in lots of different ways all at once. Does anyone else experience this, too?
My musings of late… duality. As I was updating my blogger profile a couple weeks ago, I realized that in so many things I hold opposite opinions or preferences simultaneously. For instance, two of my very favorite movies – Under the Tuscan Sun and The Matrix. One a sappy chic flick, the other an intense action film. Music, too. On any given day on the drive to work, I might listen to Vivaldi and Green Day… Natalie Merchant and Linkin Park… Madonna and Dropkick Murphys. Even how I dress is eclectic – one day I might dress a little preppy and sophisticated, another I might wear khaki cut-offs and a hippy top. Ideas are often the same. I might feel one way about something, but at the same time have a very differing opinion.
So, is this just me, or is it a writer thing? I’ve kind of wondered if writers are more prone to seeing things through multi-colored glasses because we’re open-minded, out-of-the-box storytellers. We often put ourselves in the different perspectives of our characters, so are used to seeing things in lots of different ways all at once. Does anyone else experience this, too?
Friday, October 22, 2010
Friday Nibble
Okay, so here's the snippet of the week, from Chapter One:
Compared to the noise of the street, the dark hush of the store was almost unsettling. The faint smell of old books, leather and silver polish tickled her nose. Wandering over to a set of marble bookends, she brushed her fingers over their cool surface. This place is deserted – maybe it’s closed after all, she reflected uneasily.
As the thought lingered in her mind, she noticed to her relief a spot of bright light coming from the back of the store. She moved towards it, passing by a row of tall wooden shelves holding hundreds of leather clad volumes. Eva took a couple off the shelf and flipped through them, then stopped to admire a case of vintage costume jewelry, arrayed like exotic birds and flowers captured in a terrarium. The low light made the colors look rich and deep, swimmable depths of sapphire, topaz and ruby.
Happy Friday!!!
Compared to the noise of the street, the dark hush of the store was almost unsettling. The faint smell of old books, leather and silver polish tickled her nose. Wandering over to a set of marble bookends, she brushed her fingers over their cool surface. This place is deserted – maybe it’s closed after all, she reflected uneasily.
As the thought lingered in her mind, she noticed to her relief a spot of bright light coming from the back of the store. She moved towards it, passing by a row of tall wooden shelves holding hundreds of leather clad volumes. Eva took a couple off the shelf and flipped through them, then stopped to admire a case of vintage costume jewelry, arrayed like exotic birds and flowers captured in a terrarium. The low light made the colors look rich and deep, swimmable depths of sapphire, topaz and ruby.
Happy Friday!!!
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Daydreaming
So, writing friends, I thought I'd periodically have a daydream topic for us to all imagine we are famous writers and have awesome literary careers. For this first foray into dreamland, I pose the following question: describe your book release party, in full grandiose/funky/artsy detail (pretend there's no budget).
Here goes mine. So, first, I hire the Ace of Cakes to make some kind of super amazing and stupendous cake because A) they rock and B) it would be awesome to have my book talked about on TV. Did anyone ever see the fabulous cake they made for the Ghost Girl book? It was ridiculous.
My book is about a witch, so I would have a very dark theme going on. Black tablecloths and centerpieces with dark or dark purplish flowers. Maybe a raven and moon motif... something sparkly to represent magic. Of course wine and martinis. And I'd tie the whole thing together as a charity fundraiser, maybe supporting the environment or troubled teen girls. Live music, classical, as a nod to my MC. But then after lots of wine something more upbeat. I had the brilliant idea of having shirtless men passing hors d'oeuvres and cocktails, to represent the sexy shapeshifters in my book, but my husband just rolled his eyes.
So, do tell - what's your ultimate book release party fantasy? I can't wait to hear all the juicy details!
Here goes mine. So, first, I hire the Ace of Cakes to make some kind of super amazing and stupendous cake because A) they rock and B) it would be awesome to have my book talked about on TV. Did anyone ever see the fabulous cake they made for the Ghost Girl book? It was ridiculous.
My book is about a witch, so I would have a very dark theme going on. Black tablecloths and centerpieces with dark or dark purplish flowers. Maybe a raven and moon motif... something sparkly to represent magic. Of course wine and martinis. And I'd tie the whole thing together as a charity fundraiser, maybe supporting the environment or troubled teen girls. Live music, classical, as a nod to my MC. But then after lots of wine something more upbeat. I had the brilliant idea of having shirtless men passing hors d'oeuvres and cocktails, to represent the sexy shapeshifters in my book, but my husband just rolled his eyes.
So, do tell - what's your ultimate book release party fantasy? I can't wait to hear all the juicy details!
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Halloween, pumpkins, football - oh, and rejection
So, this weekend I got the quickest rejection thus far... this chic had some super powered form rejection skills. I submitted a query late Friday night and when I got up Saturday morning, already turned down. Now, granted, this agency only asked for a query letter and no sample pages, so she didn't have a lot to read. But impressive for a Friday night. Maybe they've created a robot that can automatically respond to queries... AI for agents. He he he...
On a more happy note, Halloween is coming up. Don't you just love Halloween? I never end up getting a cool costume, but if I did, I'd be Hit Girl from the movie Kick Ass - eleven-year-old assassin with a foul mouth.
On other Halloween related topics, we bought our first pumpkin the other day... my son picked out a cool orange and white speckled one. Also, yesterday I took him to his first football game and here's a secret - it was actually my first, too. Living in a big university town it's kind of weird I've never been, but I could just never get at all interested in football. After seeing the game, I'm still not interested in it, but I did have fun just being in the stadium surrounded by such excitement. Phrases like 'line of scrimmage' flying about the crisp October air.
Here are a couple pics I just took. Enjoy!
Maximus
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