Scott Westerfeld...what can I say? Thank you.

Eating Scott Westerfeld's books up like candy. Uglies, Pretties, Specials and now finishing Extras. A must read.

What makes a title?

I’m sure that many of you have been through this before and are still struggling with this now.  How do you find the perfect title for you manuscript?  You have just spent so much time, weeks, months, even years working on perfecting your most treasured work…now what do you call it?

Where do you get inspiration for a name for your book? Where do you look for a name? Does it just come to you easily or are you someone who struggles with it?  I know that they say sometimes when you sign with a publisher that when they read your manuscript, they may want to make changes and may want to change the name. Can you live with that?

I mean that I have around six to seven WIPs…some I have titled. But I don’t know if they are solid titles. I know that there are some that I feel very strongly about and some I am mediocre about because I need to differentiate my works because I would be completely confused if I called them all untitled…lol.

Some titles come to me in my sleep or during the middle of the day. I have even just been listening to music and a title comes to mind. Sometimes I come up with titles that have nothing to do with any of the WIPs that I am writing but I write them down …just in case.

So tell me, where do you get your inspiration for a title?

The voices inside my head are going crazy…

There are actually so many things going on that I don't know where to start. Have you ever been like that before? Of course you have, it is common. I'm not some freak…ok, ok. So maybe I am--a little. A muse as its called that leads you from project to project and keeps those creative juices flowing. WELL-- I have several. Some good and some evil. Muhhaahaaww.

 

Actually I am looking for a way to either get them to all quite speaking at one time or to quiet down just a squidge so that I can concentrate just enough to focus on some things. I admit, life is hectic enough without them all pulling me in ten different directions and about five different genres…no seriously. They don't concur on a genre, they all have a different preference too.

 

So this has been making it hard for me when doing some writing. I have like five WIPs out there because I listen to the voices and let them guide me for a bit and then another one grabs me and I take off skipping hand and hand with them down another path of sparkles and rainbows or dark shadows and cobwebs. I tell you, that I know I should just focus on one, but the truth is that I know that they all have something important to say and I am afraid that if I don't follow them all around that I may miss an opportunity not to catch their important story and that it may get backlogged in the lost forever files of the IGNORE BOX of suppressed ideas not realized.

 

Besides, I am powerless to them. I can't tell them to STFU. I like all of them unconditionally. No matter who or what they are.

 

I wish that I could say that I was organized and everything had a place and a plan and I wrote a chapter a day and that everything goes as planned, but the truth is…I am a windstorm throwing things down here and there and cleaning up the mess afterward but that's me. To be honest, I like me, I understand me. I just wish that I could calm me down a little. I feel like I get so overwhelmed with all of them (muses) that I mentally shut down sometimes and that is counterproductive.

 

Ok--So here goes. Who has some advice…ideas…words of wisdom…tell me to STFU…Just puttin it out there. LOL

Two Moons of August 27th 2010

I had a friend send this to me in an email.
Two Moons on August 27, 2010

27^th Aug the Whole World is waiting for............. 

Planet Mars will be the brightest in the night sky starting August. It will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye. This will cultivate on Aug. 27 when Mars comes within 34.65M miles off earth. Be sure to watch the sky on Aug. 27 12:30 am. It will look like the earth has 2 moons.

The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287. 

Share this with your friends as NO ONE ALIVE TODAY will ever see it again.

What is your sanity?

I often wonder how my days fly by without me even knowing where the time goes.
Example.

Yesterday.
Wake up and get ready for work - get kids off to school.
Go to work and work on items throughout the day until my lunch hour.
Lunch hour I leave for a doctor's appointment.
Get done from doctor get back to work late.
Leave work at closing time, pick up boys and drop them off home.
Go to town to pick up a prescription and visit with mother -in- law.
Leave her town to drive back home.
Go to pharmacy to fill prescription.
Get home fix dinner, help kindergartener with homework.
Eat dinner and then go to bed by nine.

Then wonder why I don't have time to write when I want. I have to stay up uber late to get anything accomplished. Days vary with tasks that need accomplished after work. Groceries, sporting events, programs to attend, etc. Sometimes balance is not always achieved, but that is the consequence of the beast of family and career and writing hobby. Yes writing is classified as a hobby for now because I cannot devote enough time to it to pay the bills. I will never give this hobby up because it is also my sanity. It keeps me grounded and helps me escape when I need to from time to time. I can go to another world and become another person for a little while before I have to step back into my shoes. I love my life and would not change it for the world, but sometimes we all need a little distraction and writing is a wonderful distraction for me. It is my survival technique. Many of us have them for different aspects of our lives to overcome and prevail. So for those of you writers out there, keep writing. I believe in you and your abilities.

I'm lost and the Monkeys won't shut the $@#@& up!

Sometimes I get lost. I mean really get lost. I want to write and make my novels the best they can be so I do a lot of research and I mean a lot. I am not in any writing classes so having to read up on good plots or voice sometimes makes me want to pull my hair out.

I have read several books that have helped tremendously and I am now an avid blog reader. I am following around 40 or so blogs. I just can’t help myself. Some days it takes the whole day just to read everyone’s posts. Some of them are authors, some are agents, and some are research, I also have found some very witty, fascinating and unique individuals that I call friends.

I love reading all their posts and follow what they have going on and read the material from agents and advice and research and then I find more blogs to follow and then I have failed to be productive in writing my own novels. I guess you could say I have taken a mini break and am addicted to reading what others post. I have also fallen a bit behind on mine because I am lost.

I can’t say that I want to have a huge following, but I would like to know that people are interested in the things that I have to say or write about. I appreciate everyone who reads mine now and tell you that your support means a lot. Some people have themes for the days of the week and I considered that, but I don’t have the time to squeeze that in or be consistent.

I’m getting ready to put feelers out for beta readers for my genre. Which ever one that will be. For some reason I cannot stay in the same boundaries. I write paranormal romance, mystery, adult fiction, and some YA. I am all over the place. I just go where the written word takes me. Blogging is a lot like journaling to me. I journaled my whole life and love to write, even if it is about nothing. There are always voices in my head telling me something so I feel compelled to write it down.

It plagues me when I try to sleep also. I cannot fall asleep because my mind is always going. My yoga instructor calls it ‘Monkey Chatter’. So while my monkeys are chattering and I am trying to tell them to go to sleep I provoke them and they become angry making things even harder for me. I notice if I try to fight them, it gets worse instead of better. So I just give up with exhaustion in the end.

What would happen if animals could talk? What are some of the questions that you would ask them?

I thought it was time for something a little less serious for a moment from my list of prompts. So what would happen if animals could talk? I bet we would get a lot of ‘are you gonna finish that?’ when we are eating at the cookouts. So does that mean that when my dog is outside and someone pulls up that she doesn’t know and she starts barking it would be more like.
“Who – the – heck – are you?”
“What do – you – want?”
Or when someone is walking down the road too close to the yard.
“Get the – hell – away – from my – yard – moron.”
I suppose life would be more complicated when you have to start having a two way conversation with your pet when you get back from running errands instead of just coming in and telling them hello and that you missed them and talking to them not really wanting answers or questions thrown back into your face.
“Where did you go, why didn’t you take me with you, what took so long, why didn’t you get the bacon strips?”
Wouldn’t it ruin the movie if they talked to you through the entire thing instead of just sat on your lap or cuddled up next to you? My kids talk and narrate enough; I don’t want my animals doing it too.
However I guess if you could ask them questions then what would you ask? I guess I would ask my dog why they feel the need to clean their beans in front of everyone. I am sure the answer would be something voyeuristic like…’wouldn’t you if you could? Or Jealous!’ I agree that everyone needs to be serviced from time to time but there is a time and a place and the middle of the yard after you just squatted and took a dump is hardly the time. Ok…I’m starting to become very sorry that I chose this topic. This can go in so many directions.
Enough about my dog. My rooster would be saying ‘Get your happy ass up bis-natch.’ And that is repeated several hundred times until you chase him from under the bedroom window where he sits patiently and waits for his moment when you are most comfortably sleeping to start yelling mean – loud verbally disturbing things at you.

Do you have animals? What would they say if they could talk? Any demands they would make or disturbing comments that you are not ready to hear? Let me know…I’m curious.

What would happen if you could fly whenever you wanted? When would you use this ability?

That is a tricky one. When wouldn’t you want to use that one? I do have a dilemma with this one. I am afraid of heights. Yes, I said it. Mortified of heights. My husband makes fun of me when we are on the roof putting up gutters or fixing the roof. But back to the question at hand.

If I could fly whenever I wanted I probably wouldn’t drive as much because I get so tired of driving. The exception to this would be wintertime. I wouldn’t want to be flying around out in the cold making the wind chap my skin through my clothes or cause icicles to literally form from my nose. I hate to be cold.

There would be no parking hassles. Just land and walk in until you walk out and find out that it is pouring down rain and you have no place to take refuge from the pulsating drops of cold water that soak you to the bone and then you are stuck. Yeah I know I am sort of looking at the negative things again. Ok back to positive.

This would be something that I treated as a special gift because if you are not portrayed as different or mutant type person, then people would think that you are an amusement ride for them to take advantage of.

I would take advantage of this ability when a dire emergency would arise and there would be a time of a traffic jam or red lights. Something standing in my way that I would wish that I could fly over to bypass in order to get to my destination. I would do what I could for the greater good. I mean that I don’t think that I would go around punishing those who need super wedgies, knocked down in a mud puddle or waste a great talent on anything like that.

My evil twin might consider it, but probably never follow through with it. Flying should be such a freeing experience and it would cause less pollution in the world depending on your emissions. I guess it would cut down on a lot of wasted time traveling long lengthy roads when you can fly over fields, rivers and buildings instead of having to weave around on a man made path designed for you to follow. Let me know your thoughts.