Left, Right, … no, go Straight!

Image by jimmyharris via Flickr

Way back when I was a teenager, I used to play a game with my friends on the weekends. We would jump in the car and play left, right, straight. Once we start driving we would take turns telling the driver which way to go.

Yes, you can get lost out in some really awesomely spooky country settings this way but it is totally hilarious and fun. Many times we would be indecisive on where to go so this was always a fun way to spend our time and find new adventures.

I sometimes relate this to my writing because when you are in a scene and getting ready for another chapter you may not know where to take it. So it is similar to playing this game. You might make them turn left into some obstacle or right to find some wonderful adventure. But you can also keep them on the straight and narrow to keep the story on track to build the story a little more.

Everything that we do with our writing is sort of this game of chance to see where we will end up. I love the adventure and will always be willing to play along. The surprises of turning off course once in awhile always surprise me in the most unexpected ways and lead my characters and stories down paths that I would have not normally plotted out for them.

It is my joy of being a punster because I don’t make any definite decisions for where my story will go and it will flow as I turn or stay on course. And yes, occasionally I get lost, but it is finding my way back that completes my journey.

Have you had anything like this happen to you or can you relate your writing to? Tell me what your writing is like.


Also look for me Thursday over at Cally Jackson's blog. I landed my tush in the HOT SEAT! Read how I sweat it out.

What is your favorite holiday?

Image via Wikipedia

Since I just wrote about my favorite month being OCTOBER, I have to tell you about my favorite holiday…*drum roll* Yeah, I know I already told you in the last post it was Halloween, but I was just checking to see who was really paying attention.

Yes, I love Halloween. I love to decorate with all the stringy cobwebs, ghoulish décor and scary music. I have more Halloween decorations than Christmas decorations…go figure. I love every aspect of it. I don’t scare easily and love the horror films, terrifying books, ghost rallies and tractor rides.

My daughter’s birthday is in late October and every year since she was little we always had a huge Halloween themed party to celebrate…bobbing for apples, flashlight tag with the occasional scary man in the woods (hubby) coming after you and the occasional friendly cop coming out and flashing his lights upon the horrifying set up. Lol

Ok, ok, it was never the ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’, but boy would I love for it to be. Now the kids are older, 17, 15, 15, 13 and 6. Now the 6 year old won’t be able to participate in most of the gore if I turn the barn into a bloody nightmare, but the older ones can. (Yes, in case some of you don’t know me…I have a dark side. She can be very dark and evil. But for all intents and purposes I try to keep her locked away for everyone’s safety.)

I’ve never had adult Halloween parties because I just haven’t had time; I focus all of it on the kids. I have thought about it several times and have talked about it to the hubs. But Halloween if for the kids…for now.


So tell me what is your favorite holiday...Christmas, Easter, St. Patty's Day or Valentines?

A great ARC Contest hosted by Sara McClung

Ok, those of you that aren't familiar with Sara McClung, I suggest you mosey over to her blog and check her out. She is funny and has great advice for any writer. Right now on her blog she is hosting an awesome ARC giveaway. She is offering to give away some wonderful books that are going to be delicious reads and just make you itch to check it out and enter to win.

Here are the books that you will find.
A set of Beautiful Creatures and Beautiful Darkness both are signed by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Nightshade by Andrea Cremer
Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry
The Unidentified by Rae Mariz
Halt's Peril by John Flanagan
The Goblin Gate by Hilari Bell
Jane by April Lindner
The Winds of Heaven by Judith Clarke

So if any of these sound like the juice that your brain needs to drink, then float on over to Sara McClung's blog and sign up. You might just become a dedicated follower. Plus she gives you a small teaser of what the book is about. So go and check it out. Thanks Sara. Good Luck with the ARC Giveaway.

I have decided that any that I am fortunate enough to win...after I read them of course, I am going to donate to our local library. Their budget is so small that we can't get the newest books for quite some time, so I am going to do what I can to help them out as a writer.

Volleyball Season is in Session...Whoot!

Last night our girls had their first volleyball scrimmage of the season. That officially kicked off the season. They played for two hours. About four different matches and different types of scrimmages. It was awesome. GO SEEGER! WHOOT! WHOOT ! It was an eye opening experience and one that made me realize that I really need one of those comfy cushiony thingys for my rump that was numb for an hour after that.

Bleachers are not made for comfort. I kid you not...Some may look pretty, but they are tricky little flat demons that pain your tail bone on purpose. Anyway. Yeah, can't wait for more games. We have two a week, meaning that my schedule is about to become hectic. Volleyball will be Tuesdays, Thursdays and some Saturdays and football every Friday night. PLUS...yes, there is a PLUS. Little one starts peanut football practice on the 24th and will have practices on some of the same nights that I have volleyball. Can we say crazy?

Lots of coffee and who knows what else (insert any prescription name here)will have to get me through. Maybe that is what is wrong with me lately. I haven't been chaotic enough. I seem to do better under stress. I have slacked off on my writing, editing...ya know, stuff. I am still beta reading and still jotting down ideas and some things for some of the WIPs I am working on, but...I lost motivation along the way. It will find me again though soon, like a stalker in the night sneaking up on its prey. It will find me, oh yes, it will.

And I say BRING IT ON! I am ready for my minions to head off to school and will try to get back on track.

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.

Wine…beer…gin…or whiskey?

What will it be for you today?

I ask out of my own curiosity and am going out of my own comfort zone. When I was younger I started off with Peachtree Schnapps. Did the wine coolers and then progressed to drinking Corona with lime. This lasted for a long time when I drank which was not too often.

Then I switched to Coors light along with my husband. Just made more sense because neither one of drank much so we would split a six pack eating pizza while watching a Nascar race. Good times.

So now I am experimenting with wines. I had some Pinot Grigio one night at dinner and just the other night I tried some Sangria. I have a bottle of Mango wine in the kitchen that I have yet to break into. I was wondering if any of my fellow bloggers or just random readers who happen to stumble across my blog post today can suggest some good tasting wines.

I have no preference since I am not a wine connoisseur of any kind. Red, White, Blush…don’t matter here. Just tell me some of your favorites, maybe what it is like…color, flavor, just give me a little tease. Then as I try them, maybe I will give a little post about my experience with it.

So tell me what is your suggestion? Even if it isn’t wine, tell me what you like and why. Maybe I’ll try it and blog about it…preferably while I’m drinking it. lol

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?

Deadly Sin # 3…Greed

Greed is applied to a very excessive or rapacious desire and pursuit of wealth, status, and power.  Yes, I admit that I come across greed when it comes to my writing. I want my writing to be recognized, so I guess I want the status of being known to the world. The wealth wouldn’t be a bad thing either, but I am ok now with or without it.

Also with greed, I am compelled to get things done. I am greedy to get my WIPs done, greedy to get as many MS written as I can. The more of my own work I have, the better I feel about myself…status to my own mind perhaps. My own power.

Power. What gives you power? Power to me is something that is achieved by working really hard on something and creating something you believe in. To me that is power. I have power because I believe in what I am doing. Do you have power? I bet you do…

Deadly Sin # 2…Gluttony

Gluttony – meaning to gulp down or swallow, over-indulgence and over-consumption of anything to the point of waste.  Can you think of anything that you have wasted? Have you been a glutton of some sort in some fashion?

I sometimes feel like I am a glutton of paper. I feel like I waste too much paper when I print things out that I don’t need to print or I print, read and then recycle. It is just a waste sometimes and I am trying to get better about it. Now I have been trying to train myself to copy and paste things into a document and save it to my thumb drive to read later on the computer.

I hoard information too. I guess that is not a waste though. Someday it will come in handy and I will be happy that I kept the information for all that time. Or I will wonder what I did it for.

Yep, tad bit off scope there. Ok, if there was a food that you would be a glutton for…what would it be?

Mine would be…I would have to say pizza or laffy taffy...grape. Totally can’t live without it.

Deadly Sin # 1…Lust

Reading about the 7 deadly sins had me curious to know what really makes people tick. I mean think about lust. It is thought of as excessive thoughts of desire of a sexual nature. When I think about that, is there someone that I have lust for? My husband, a movie hunk, an old flame…?

When you think about lust, what comes to mind? You don’t have to say it aloud. Write it down in an exercise or some kind. Use it in one of your WIPs or something. Everyone is intrigued about someone’s lust for someone or something. Ok, maybe not everyone, but I know that I am.

I think lust is an obsessive compulsive disorder for some people. You just can't control yourself. For a taste of man candy...go to Borrowing Heaven, Subletting Hell to enjoy some lustful images of midnight man candy and other fantastic literary input.

Admit it, there is something that always makes you think of sex…? I can hear you giggling about it. Just think about it and don't worry about being too sinful.

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.

Weekly Chapter Challenge Update # 2

So far things are going great. I have stumbled a couple of times because I am having some split personality issues of wanting to write in first person and then switch to third limited and then back to first and so on and so on.

Thankfully, I have someone who is understanding and helping me cope with my dilemma of wanting to portray the other person’s POV other than the MC. It has been a tough road, but I have been diligently reworking my thoughts to convey the first person POV only.

When we are done, I will go back and revamp the MS with it written all in first POV. I thought about it for a while and stewed on it and then decided I liked the voice it had when I wrote it in first.  I liked the third person vision to give light to the pain of my other characters so that I could explain their intensity of passion/feelings within the MS, but if I do it the right way in first person, you will get it.

I guess that means I just need to work that much harder. So thanks to my buddy, I am doing just that. I am trying to morph my multiple personality into one so that I can write my MS the best I can.

Best of luck to you writers. I believe in you. Keep writing… and take care of you.

BETA READERS FOUND!!

Ok everyone, I promised to talk about beta readers. I have a few and I have a place where you can find them. My friend Nathalie from Writer's Digest has just started a new community for you to join if you are looking for beta readers to look over your work. Go to Writer's Digest and join Beta Reader Central.

I promise that you won't be disappointed that you join and have others read your work and give you insight. It will be fun and you will meet new people. So go--Yes, I mean RIGHT NOW!! Get your ass moving. Sign up and help an aspiring writer out.

I read all genres. I don't care, as long as I can help someone else out. I am there, come find me. I would be honored to beta read for anyone. You never know, one day, I could be asking you for a signed copy reminding you that I once beta read for you and that even though you didn't take any of my advice...I was there for you. lol

Anyway, I think that it has been a wonderful experience for me so far and I am enjoying it more and more every day that I do it and hope to get to meet more people and read more work. It does give you a break from your own work and then puts me back into the mode where I feel I can make my MS worth reading. Sometimes it is good to hear what a reader thinks since they may be the one that picks it up in the store someday. IMPORTANT!

Weekly Chapter Challenge Post Prompt

Ok…so I am a little behind on this post because I was promising to do it on Monday and life happened as usual. Thank goodness, I am breathing. Wheew!

So I am part of the Weekly Chapter Challenge on the Writer’s Digest Website and anyone who is aspiring to be a writer really should become a member of Writer’s Digest and go to the Weekly Chapter Challenge and find a writing buddy.

I wasn’t sure I was ready for one at first so I put it off for a couple of months and then I joined and hooked up with a wonderful YA writer, Trisha Leaver, who is represented by Jessica Sinsheimer of The Sarah Jane Freymann Literary Agency and is diligently working on edits for her manuscript Cedar.

In her spare time, she is exchanging chapters with me, beta reading for others and maintaining her family. I look at her with awe, because she is a magnificent beta reader and she tells me directly what she thinks…with tact. She never comes across the wrong way. She is always appropriate in her comments

If it hadn’t been for EJ starting the group, then I wouldn’t have found her. So thank you EJ. Much appreciated. I also found a couple of other people that I beta read with and am having a blast sharing my work and reading others. I guess I never thought in a million years I would be brave enough to let anyone read my work, but everyone has been so kind and honest with their feedback and that makes it easier to want to share it with the WORLD.


Also, this is the fist time that I have tried to work with links and such on my blog, so forgive me if they aren't working out. I haven't mastered the blog world yet. Post me and let me know if I miffed it up bad, real bad, really, really bad, or just forget trying it again Regina. LOL.


So this is mainly about the WCC so watch out later when I give a huge shout out to my beta crew who I hope to continue to work with them on future projects. I like their input. So go... yes, RIGHT NOW to Writer's Digest and friend me. Then go to the Weekly Chapter Challenge and get cracken on those chapters. I know you can do it. I believe in you. So go, get movin and take care of you. See you there.

Migraine Suffers I sympathize

I am about half out of my mind at this point. I am having several people carefully screening over my MS showing all of my muck ups and am trying diligently to fix them and get it in tip top shape.

With a killer migraine that I suffer from often, I just want to shut myself off from the world for a couple of hours…OK, I LIED. Days would be better. It is hard to stay focused and controlled when fighting these. The doctors try to manage them with medications, but sometimes I get so side tracked with all the things that I am trying to do (ie: with work full time, family (five kids 16, 15, 15, 13, 6), injured hubby (see below ***) and of course………Writing. That I sometimes forget to take it. {ALL OF THIS MAKES ME MORE CREATIVE…..I HOPE!!}

Today I am to blame. It will cost me a couple of days and I need to kick my own ass if the migraine wasn’t already doing a great job. Anyone who suffers from them, you know what I am talking about. DARK HOLE, here I come. Climbing down in to hide for several hours. It is best if I just pass out unconscious.

Hubby wants to go workout at the gym tonight, so I don’t know when I will get to the dark hole. Don’t judge yet. ***Hubby comes first, because he, unlike me, was injured three years ago in a construction accident and can no longer drive or work because he has moments where he blanks out causing him to (if he were driving …he would wreck.) or sometimes he takes a walk and ends up out in the middle of our field. He also suffers from short term memory issues. (Let me tell you this helps give me a lot to write about also).

So when hubby is stranded at home all day and cannot go anywhere until I get there to take him, then it is my duty to take him where he wants to go. He needs exercise too. I love him to the ends of the Earth and that means that I can endure the migraine until he gets his workout in.***

Enough about my pity party. I know from now on I need to take my meds. Crazy biznatch shouldn’t forget anymore, but any of you that know me knows that I will forget occasionally because that is the nature of the beast.

Best of luck to all of my writer friends out there…keep it going and keep it strong and remember to take care of you.

~Regina

Interesting Analogy

A friend emailed me today with this little poem in it.

Yesterday is History,
Tomorrow is a Mystery,
Today is a gift,
That's why we call it the Present.

I liked it and wanted to share with everyone.
Live life to the fullest and have a great time.
Take care of you!!

New blog that I came across. Please check it out!

Leaguewriters.blogspot.com The League of Extraordinary Writers where they Debut YA Dystopian Writers. I found it when I was on someone else's blog and promised to mention it on mine. So if you can go check it out. It is really neat and has different talents on there to read about. I found it very interesting. So if you can I urge you to take a peak...Thanks.

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.