Have You Heard

Get Fired up for the Winners

2012-03-12T14:12:00.001-07:00

Announcing The Winners Of The Get Fired Up Blogfest!!!!!

I want to thank each and every one of you for participating and voting. The grand prize winner came down to a tie breaker between two phenomenal bloggers and I don't think it could have been any closer. Both did an extraordinary job of lending their talent, skill, experience & expertise to other bloggers. I am honored to be part of such a sharing group of writers and bloggers.

I have already told you how close the vote was, but I want to add this unique factor. Imagine how difficult it was to select the winner based on the criteria of the contest. Now factor in the similarity of the first names of the finalist.

In alphabetical order: Carrie and Cassie (one letter difference).

I have grown so found of these two girls and their names. I swear, if I was still young and having more children their names would be Carrie & Cassie. And I already have a Casey.

Get on with it you say:

The grand prize: Choice of a Kindle Fire or a two (2) hour plot consultation with Martha Alderson , author of The Plot Whisperer, is

Congratulations, Cassie.

Cassie writes a fun a upbeat blog. If you have not read it, be sure to check it out. Her blog, Reading Writing and Lovin it is one you will frequent often. Her vivacious personality is breath of fresh air.

Carrie Butler's blog, So, You're a Writer, has become one of my favorites. From her cool design to her informative and personal post, I always find myself lingering and pilfering through her older post. I am borrowing this next line from her post today to demonstrate how she always manages to inspire other bloggers.

" As I said on her post, for anyone who "shows up late to the party," don't think you need to wait for another blogfest to get help with your blog. With a supportive community like ours, there's no reason to go it alone.:)"

Thank you, Carrie.

The Next two winners were randomly selected. Participants earned entries if they commented on my blog, used the word "Leap" (Leap Year) in their comment, blogged about the contest, tweeted, put a badge on their blog or sidebar, or commented on facebook.

I learned a lot from this blogfest (give a way). First of all, a lot of time and preparation goes into contest and blogfest. This was my first so I made a bunch of rookie mistakes. I now know that I should have used rafflecopter, but I did not even know what that was when I came up with this idea.

So I had to do the random selection the old fashioned way. Yup, draw from a hat. I didn't even have a raffle bingo thingy (just an L.S.U. Tigers ball cap)

Hopper~~ That's the word I was searching for.

So let me explain the weird photo collage that you see above. I wanted the drawing to be fair and I didn't want anyone to think I cheated so I accosted the painters who are at my house to paint my two teenage daughters' bedroom. So starting at the top left...

1. I asked the stranger to please select a folded piece of paper from the hat (with his eyes closed).

2. Then he held the folded paper up for a photo

3. That's the other painter (painting their ceiling hot pink faux suede) my hubbie hates it. I Kind of love it. Grow up, right? But why? Colors are fun & cool.

4. Then he held up the first random winner.

5. Another photo of their wild room

6. And the second random drawing winner.

7. Another photo. I guess I needed to see if I am wacko for letting the girls do this??

and the winners are...

That's Right~ Leigh T. Moore (no, I mean, That's Right is the name of her blog. Check it out, here. Leigh is the winner of a fifty dollar ($50.00 Amazon Gift Card)

and

The second random drawing winner is, Coleen Patrick. Coleen is the winner of two of Martha Alderson's books.

I know that I have a third category, but I have not been able to get to that category. I will as soon as I can. Thank you everyone and don't forget,

I would like for all of the winners to please email me with your physical mailing address so that I can get your prizes to you.

Congratulations to all!!!!

Tie Breaker- Get Fired Up

2012-03-06T18:41:00.000-08:00

Tie Breaker: For The Grand Prize Winner

I am close to wrapping up the Get Fired Up Blogfest. Winners for all three categories will be announced Friday, March 9, 2012. I want to thank everyone for participating. If You took part in the "help or mentor a new, struggling or undiscovered blogger", I hope you made new friends.

I am delighted with the amount of blogger spirit and energy that you put into this contest.

I need the help of my blogger buddies out there. I have narrowed the grand prize category down to two bloggers, both who did exceptional jobs in completely different ways. Can you lend a hand to help me select the winner - It goes without saying, "There are no losers."

My picture does double duty: Not much of a mystery, huh? If you have not already signed up for Arlee Bird's A to Z blogging challenge, please do. The last time I looked 928 people had signed up. C'mon, let's get to 1000 before the challenge begins on April 1, 2012.

What is the blogging A to Z challenge? Click on the link to the left and find out.
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For the grand prize winner: Winners choice of either a Kindle Fire or a two (2) hour plot consultation with Martha Alderson. Participants were asked to mentor or help a new, struggling or undiscovered blogger. No rules, just to do what they could to help a fellow blogger. If you want to read the original post announcing the details, read about it here.

I have narrowed my choice to two bloggers. Both did exceptional jobs and each mentored or helped fellow bloggers in a completely different way.

Carrie Butler, over at So, You're A Writer, mentored and guided one person, Melissa Maygrove, from beginning to completion of setting up an entire blog. She provided tips and ideas and even helped with the blog design. Check out what she did. I wish someone as skilled and talented as Carrie would have helped me get off to running start.

Cassie Mae, at Reading, Writing and Lovin it went in a different direction and provided blog critiques to several bloggers. Many of those she mentored reached their 100 person follower milestone as a result of Cassie's tips and ideas. So go read, Helpin' Dem Bloggas Out and tell me what you think.

I am torn between their diverse, but equally dynamic, awe-inspiring results. This is where I need your help. I am asking you to check out the articles posted by Cassie Mae on her blog, Reading writing and lovin it and Carrie Butler on her blog, So, You're a Writer. Both are equally impressive and it is obvious that Cassie and Carrie devoted a tremendous amount of time and effort into this project.

Then cast your vote for the first place winner. You can cast your vote in the comment section or if you prefer to submit your choice by secret ballot, then send me your vote via email. If you want your vote to remain private and confidential, I assure you I will not share it with anyone.

Voting will remain open until Midnight, Friday, March 9, 2012, and the grand prize winner will be announced later that day. I have the winners for the other categories, but I will announce all winners in one blog post on 3/9/12.

Thank you for helping me with this tough choice. It is quite a conundrum-but a good one.

I need your help. I am riding the middle and don't want to

Flip a coin.

Take a few minutes to check out the goodwill and support our blogger friends shared with others. I am proud to be part of such a supportive group.

Winners To Be Announced-Get Fired Up

2012-03-01T00:43:00.000-08:00

If you signed up for or participated in any portion of the "Get Fired Up" blogfest~ The time has come to select the lucky winners.

I have some announcements so please read on:

My husband went back in the hospital on Monday, with complications from his recent heart surgery. He is doing well & they did not have to perform a bypass. My youngest was sent home from school with a fever on Tuesday and wouldn't you know it- he has the damn flu. Poor baby, he is so miserable.

Bennett, is home from school for the next two weeks according to the doctor which means I am home as well. I am trying to sleep when he sleeps because when he is awake he is seriously suffering. I have him sleeping in a chair by the fireplace in my room for two reasons, (1) so hopefully none of the other kids will catch it-yea right, I know and (2) his body temperature fluctuates depending on whether his fever is high or breaking. We have the air conditioner on 68 and the fireplace going. I hate that I cannot be at the hospital with my husband, but his prognosis is good and my little boy is so fragile right now.

I cannot believe I am about to show the world how messy & cluttered my bedroom is, but he is sleeping peacefully right now (until motrin stops working again). OMG, my room is bad, but it is his little sick corner & I do clean it up every couple of hours. He has his puppy with him. Wow, you can even catch a glimpse of my storyboards on the wall.

I don't know my blogging schedule for the next couple of weeks.

I will select the winners of the "Get Fired Up" blogfest this week. You may or may not know that there are three separate and distinct contest or raffles that will have winners. I should have the winners of the random drawing prizes by the end of the week.

The second two may take a little longer, but I will have the winners announced as soon as possible.

Those of you who entered to win the Kindle fire by helping a new, struggling or undiscovered blogger, please leave a comment in this post with a link to your blog post that shares the name and URL of the blogger.

With everything going on at home,I will not be able to pop around much this next week. I have not forgotten you and I apologize in advance if I am unable to participate in any blogfest or other events I may have signed up for. I will pretty much be a sporadic blogger until Bennett is better and my husband is home and well. I am guessing a week, two tops.

I will post contest updates and announce winners as they become known. Thank you to everyone who participated and thank you for your understanding of my family issues.

my email if you have any questions about the contest or selection process: sugarlaw67@yahoo.com
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I have an unrelated question I hope someone can help me with. I am curious how each of you are coping with Google Friend Connect's untimely demise? I understand it is not supposed to apply to blogger accounts (not yet anyway), but they can pull the plug on us at anytime-they have already demonstrated that.

Goodbye Google Friend Connect? Or is it really?

This is disturbing news. I know it has been in the works for over a year, but I hate to lose my friend connect community. I am a newer blogger and I can only imagine how much this sucks for those of you who have colossal communities, especially if your google friends and members have opted to receive your newsletters.

No, that is not my Google Friend Connect. I am close to three hundred friends and I am proud to have each and every one of you. I shudder to think you will just disappear after I worked so hard to get you here.

Google, of course, recommends that we all join google plus and transfer our communities to their site. I am a google plus member, but I have not spent a significant amount of time on my google plus page. So far it has failed to hook me.

I don't want to risk losing my contacts and friends. I hope we will all continue to follow each other.

Here is where you can find me on Google Plus.

Have ya'll already made alternative blog follower arrangements. I have read many articles that suggest I should voluntarily remove my Google Friend Connection widget, but I don't want to. I am embarrassed to admit it, but I don't even really understand the whole RSS and Feedburner craze. I am going to learn.

Other options include: But how many hours per day can we devote to learning the ins and outs of more social networking sites?

Linky Followers
RSS Feed
Google Reader (or does it disappear as well?)
Subscribe by email
BlogLovin'
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Google Plus What is your plan?

I've Been Tagged

2012-02-26T23:07:00.000-08:00

The Eleven Questions " getting to know you" Tag

I've Been Tagged by Claire L. Fishback over at Write Fish. It is the 11 question campaign game.

Rules:

1. You must post the rules.
2. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post and then create ten new questions to ask the people that you have tagged.

3. Tag eleven people and link to them on your post.

4. Let them know you've tagged them! (so dem's da rules)

Here goes:

1. If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go? That's a tough one. Does it mean a new place or somewhere I have visited before? I want to got back to the Greek Isles, especially Santorini.

But, a place I have never been & I am dying to go is Fiji.

2. Why do you write in the genre you write in? I love the rush and adrenalin that I get from a good mystery. Suspense is like a drug for me. Thrillers keep me on the edge of my seat, full of fear and anxiety, but begging for more.

3. How did you come up with the idea for your current work in progress (or most recent work in progress)? A combination of cases I have witnessed in my life and a some of the criminals I met many years ago actually sparked the idea, but the story is not related even remotely to any case I have ever read about or known. I asked a bunch of those "what if" questions.

4. What came first, the chicken or the egg and why? Uh, upon advice of counsel I refuse to answer that question on the grounds it may incriminate me.

5. How often do you write? Everyday (now you didn't ask how much)

6. What is scariest: Vampires, Werewolves, Zombies, or other? I have to say other. I am more afraid of true & real evil, like serial killers & Cult leaders who kill or can persuade people to drink the koolaid. They are Real and it is not always easy to spot a monster who walks beside us or lives near us or works close to our children. They don't have pointed horns or breathe fire. They look just like us.

7.Pizza toppings: name three of your favorites. Roasted garlic, tomato & banana peppers.

8. You're given a $25 gift card to Barnes & Noble, do you a novel by your favorite author, or a how to guide on writing (such as Dwight Swain's Techniques of the Selling Author)?
It depends on which book I last bought, but nine times out of ten - the new novel by my favorite author.

9. Yes or No?
Maybe.

10. If you could have any exotic or fantastical pet, what would you have?
Honey Bear - (don't know how exotic that is).

11. Why do you write?

Because I can't sing. Just kidding (not about singing though) I write as a way to relax and because I enjoy losing myself in the worlds I create much like I like losing myself when reading a good book. Writing also allows me to express all of the emotions I tend to bury. I get to show my frustration, fear, anxiety, sadness, happiness etc. through the thoughts, action & dialogue of my characters .

OK, now my questions.

Name one thing you consider your biggest regret in your life so far?
If you could go back in time and do things differently, what is something you would change
If you could travel to another time period, but you must agree to remain there for a full six months would you go? If yes what time period & where would you time-travel to the future or past
Would you rather be on the best seller list once (only once) or win the single ticket mega multi- state lotto?
When you write in the privacy of your own home, what do you wear?
What was the happiest day or time of your life?
Would you rather have loved deeply and been hurt deeply or have never felt true love before or the hurt that can go with it
If you current novel is made into a Major Motion Film; who would play your protagonist?
If a movie was made about your life, who would you want to play you
Name one thing about you that you seldom share with others~or something that we in the blogosphere do not know about you.
You are a character and are being interviewed: What is your greatest strength? Worst flaw?

So, now I am it. I get to tag you... and you... and you... and...............

Theresa Sneed
Harlow Corban Whose Debut Thriller is now available, Life in Death
Diana at My Life in Writing
J.C. Martin

Kaylie Austin
Another Author
Jennifer Chase
Barbara McDowall
Louise Wise who has a new book review blog, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Reviews of Louise Wise
Michael Haynes
Nick Wilford at Scattergun Scribblings

Happy Mardi Gras

2012-02-19T15:19:00.000-08:00

Happy Mardi Gras- Laissez les bons temps rouler!! * Warning: photos of women's breast.

Throwme something Mister

This past weekend we celebrated Mardi Gras in North Louisiana with the Krewe of Gemini Parade. The weekend before was the Krewe of Centaur. This is the parade that our own Krewe of Justinian participates in. Mardi Gras is music, parades, floats, picnics, excitement and..... lots of booze. It is one big holiday in Louisiana and in triplicate for New Orleans. Everyone wears purple, green & gold adorned with long beads caught from the beautiful floats. The grounds are jam packed with spectators throwing balls , cooking out, playing music, dancing & watching the crowds walk between parades.

During Mardi Gras, all of the businesses and roads are practically shut down~~people are walking everywhere, hanging out with friends and meeting new ones. Everyone is dressed in crazy costumes, kids are everywhere and they love it. It is a state holiday and schools are closed the last week of Mardi Gras. Interested in how it all began? Interested in the history & tradition of Mardi Gras. Click on the links below the photos for more information on Mardi Gras.

Why Do Women Bare Their Breast

The Tradition of Flashing

Fact or myth? Mardi Gras is only for adults & drunks and is no place for children? Drunken Lunkheads?

Mardi Gras History

Throws & Trinkets

“ The throwing of trinkets to the crowds was started in the early 1870s by the Twelfth Night Revelers, and is a time-honored expectation for young and old alike.

In 1884 (over 100 years ago!), Rex started using medallions instead of trinkets. These medallions are represented by today's doubloons. These doubloons are aluminum and anodized in many different colors. They depict the parade theme on one side and the Krewe's emblem on the other. They have become collector's items. “

Mardi Gras Floats, Balls, Royalty, and King Cakes:

http://www.mardigrasneworleans.com/quartermardi.html#floats

The baby is located somewhere inside the cake. Does anyone know what it means if you find the baby inside your slice of King Cake?

Mardi Gras is one big party. While most people think of parades when they think of Mardi Gras, there are many other Mardi Gras traditions. Krewe members work hard all year on the floats, parades, balls & other traditions. After the parades end we strip the floats and begin building for the next year. The wood on the float is good for two years so we change the theme of our individual floats every two years. Throughout the year we have float building parties. A few weeks before the parades begin each Krewe host their own coronation ball where the royalty is adorned, debutantes are announced and the identity of the closely guarded secret of the identity of the new King & Queen is revealed. It is part of the mystique -keeping their identity a secret until the night of the ball.

The mystery and tradition of the balls is too lengthy to discuss here. I will devote a separate post to the mystery and intrigue of the famous Mardi Gras Ball & royalty. Most aristocratic Balls are by invitation only and then only a a select group make the cut. People no longer feel left out if they are not invited to the prestigious aristocratic Balls. Lots of folks don't make the final list-including some governors who have made it known that they want to attend.

While Mardi Gras is traditionally known for the parties and drinking we try to remember the true meaning of Mardi Gras. New Orleans is a predominantly Catholic/Christian city~~& this is how Ash Wednesday is celebrated. I am Jewish, but I honor and respect the Catholic traditions and I participate in every aspect of Mardi Gras. The last day before Ash Wednesday (FAT TUESDAY) is when the Catholics receive ashes and begin 40 days of sacrifice in imitation of Our Lord, ending on Easter Sunday, with the celebration of the Resurrection.

You don't have to be Catholic to give up something meaningful for the 40 days succeeding Fat Tuesday. I give up something each year as a sacrifice to God and in honor of the Mardi Gras tradition

Happy Mardi Gras

How To Finish or Revise Your Manuscript

2012-02-17T12:27:00.000-08:00

Are You Having Trouble Finishing Your First Draft?

Does Your Manuscript Need Some Fine Tuning?

I have been reading books on Revising Manuscripts and I have put together a list of tips, ideas & suggestions that I found helpful. It is a combination of exercises and suggestions taken from a variety of books designed to improve the craft of fiction writing. It is rather lengthy so I am going to break it up into a three part segment.

If you have a first or subsequent draft to revise then you use these suggestions on your own work. Even if you have not completed your first draft, this is an excellent guide to help you improve your writing. If you have not completed your first draft, it is a wise idea to study the work of authors you admire or books from the same genre that you are writing.

It is best to study a novel that you have already read from beginning to end at least one time. The next time you read the novel, you will be reading it as a writer. Plan to pick it apart and decipher it. Learn from published authors what works and what does not.

Select two books that you liked or that kept your attention for whatever reason. Pick two of your absolute favorite books. The gist of this idea is taken from a book written by Chris Eboch, titled ADVANCED PLOTTING. You can purchase the Kindle edition for only $4.99

In Monday's Post, I will show you how Chris Analyzes the plot of a book for conflict, tension and how to analyze your main character; subplots and secondary characters; Theme; and how to fine tune your manuscript.

Today I will share some basic tools for analyzing your draft. Again , if you do not yet have a completed draft, use these exercises to analyze two of your favorite books. Analyzing the work of a respected author in your genre will open your eyes to things you are doing that are not working and show you why they are not. You will also pick up necessary tools to develop a great first draft.

Picktwo recent books I liked and re-read as writer studying the craft.

Determinehow many chapters

Average length of chapters

Average length of sentence

Did they follow the 8 sequence 4 part/three act story structure?

How much of each chapter/scene is

1. Exposition

2. Action

3. Narrative

4. Dialogue

5. Backstory

6. Character's internal thoughts

How and when does the author weave backstory in?

Why do we care about the MC?

How & when is the MC introduced?

What dialogue tags are used & how often?

What other ways does the author break up the dialogue so we don't have talking heads? (action, movement, facial expressions, gestures, other non verbal cues)

Can you tell the characters apart. Do that have unique and distinguishable mannerisms, quirks, habits, manner of speech, dialect, accent, favorite sayings that clearly identify each character. How prominent is the voice.

* A good idea

(Tryreading just that character's dialogue aloud)~~ Is dialogue lively &interesting-advancing plot & creating tension? Is it believable

For each chapter or scene write a sentence describing what is happening

For each chapter or scene list the emotions portrayed

Highlight the major emotions

Track subplots by briefly mentioning what happens in chapters where subplots appear

Use a different color highlighter for each subplot

For example

Pink for the romance subplot

red for the villains subplot

blue for MC and her father's subplot

purple for conflict at work subplot

Make note of cliffhangers that end chapters

These are general & basic ideas.

Monday we will outline more specific and detailed ways to revise your draft or use authors in your genre to help improve your first draft.

Get ready for some major analyzing.

On Monday we will analyze the plot for conflict & Tension

In part 3 we will analyze the Main Character, subplots, secondary characters, theme, & fine tuning using a template from Advanced Plotting by Chris Eboch.

For a sneak peak at some of the Templates used, visit the author's Kris Bock aka Chris Eboch website. Take a look at this awesome Romantic Suspense authors tips & ideas.

Remember this writing exercise can be used to revise or edit your novel also.

How about you? Do you ever read as a writer? Do you pick apart novels in an effort to learn from the best? How do you decipher novels?

Origins Blogfest

2012-02-13T13:00:00.000-08:00

What is the Origin of Your Writing Dreams?

D.L Hammons over at Cruising Altitude is co-hosting this blogfest with Katie Mills The Creepy Query Girl, Alex J. Cavanaugh and Matthew MacNish from The Quintessentially Questionable Query Experiment .

It is very Simple: Tell us where your writing dreams began.

As a kid, I spent all of my summers in Leland Michigan. At the end of the summer the entire town celebrated the Barbecruise. We turned our boats into mini Mardi Gras type floats and paraded through the lake. The kids and adults participated in a plethora of other games and activities.

One activity for the younger kids involved telling stories individually and in groups on a stage. I don't remember what my first story was, but I do remember the crowd laughing and applauding. I guess it went to my head and I discovered that I could entertain others with my "made up" stories, hence a storyteller was born.

As I got older I started writing my stories and reading them to my family. I am sure they tired of me, but they continued to indulge me. Unfortunately, we did not have anything remotely close to YouTube 40 years ago and I won't bore you with the "home movies".

I did find some clips from kids doing this last year.

My storytelling & writing continued and I loved to put on a show at summer camp, then boarding school, college & well I guess it never ended.

Finally, I became a lawyer because I knew how hard it would be to become an actress & lawyers are really just actors on stage telling a story and the lawyer who has the best presence and story wins. LOL kidding (sort of)

The magical little town where it all started & where my grandparents bought me my first electric typewriter.

The most exciting innovation ever (even better than the microwave). Our kids have it so nice & easy today. They cannot even begin to appreciate something as simple as an electric typewriter.

I am about to cry..... I am so old!!!!! Do any of you remember the electric typewriter?

4th Writers- Campaign Challenge

2012-02-12T22:30:00.000-08:00

It's Back! The Fourth Writers' Platform-Building Campaign.

Rachael Harrie over at Rach Writes is the host and creator of this awesome platform designed to link writers, aspiring authors, beginning bloggers, industry people and published authors together with the aim of helping to build our online platforms. The campaigners are all people in a similar position, who genuinely want to pay it forward, make connections and friends within the writing community and help build each others' online platforms while at the same time building their own.

Rachael explains the idea behind the campaign here.

Here is a post by Rachael, explaining what it means to be a campaigner.

This is an excellent opportunity to make friends and build your online presence while helping others do the same.

This campaign will be a mini campaign. Here is a list of the campaigners for the fourth Campaign. You can also sign up here and add your name to the list that best describes your genre.

You need to be a follower of Rachael Harrie's Blog.

Key Dates:

The Campaign will run from now until Saturday March 17 2012

The list of campaigners will close on Wednesday, February 15th, so make sure you sign up before then.

The First Campaigner Challenge will begin on Monday, February 20th and end on Saturday, February 25th.

The Second Campaigner Challenge will begin on Monday, March 5th and end on Saturday, March 10th.

For more information & to meet Rachael's co-host. Visit her blog now.

Flash Fiction: Revenge

2012-02-11T01:59:00.000-08:00

The Third & Final Day of The I'm Hearing Voices Character Blogfest

Hosted by Angie & Cassie. Today's Challenge:
Emotion Flash Fiction: Emotion is the engine of a story. Pick an emotion and in a flash fiction piece of 250 words MAKE us feel it! We want to connect with your character.

Revenge:

His face contortedin agony. He'd just come to, handcuffed to a dog cage. Hiseyes bulged in terror-his wife was tied to the sofa.

"Feel likeyou've been drop kicked in the gut?" I asked, but hecouldn't answer. The panicked eyes spoke for him.

"I'llgive you one chance to live."

His brow scrunched and the lines on his forehead formed a V. Whatdid she see in him?

"I'lldo anything... you want." His voice edged with fear. Coward.I figured his first words: pleasedon't hurt my wife.

I untied her whilepulling the gun from my waistband. The tough guy pissedhimself. I was parched.

"Getme something to drink, honey. Try anything he's dead." Iwatched her from the corner of my eye while I held the .38 specialon the asshole in the cage.

"Wecan work this out. I won't report it." He whined.

I took another sipof the dark ale from the icy mug she still knew exactly whatI like to drink . I was hot. Another swig, I feltweak. He rattled the cage and I shot him. The thunderousexplosion in my head was my ex- wife clapping. Was I hallucinating?

I felt queasy. I stumbled back.

"Youkilled him. Thank you."

"What?" The beer fell from my hand.

"Forkilling him. I am free from both of you."

"I''mconfused."

"Iknow. It's the poison.

"Whatpoison?"

"ThatI was going to kill my husband with."

The End! 250 Words.

Dialogue

2012-02-08T01:04:00.000-08:00

Dialogue Introduction:

Day 2 of Angie and Cassie's

I'm Hearing Voices Blogfest

Today, February 8th - Dialogue Introduction: Have two character introduce each other other using only dialogue- no backstory, no internalization, just dialogue between the two. Max 250 words.

Mr. Andrew Miciotto: " I need to be paid, Otis or I cannot continue representing you.

"I've got your money, don't worry about it."

"That's the problem. You've got it. I don't." Andrew replied

"Can you get me off?" Otis asked.

"That's not the point."

"Maybe it ain't your point, but it's mine. You know what happened to the last person said they could help me, but didn't?"

"I don't give a rat's ass. Otis, pay up or get another lawyer."

" I stuck the bitch till she bled to death."

"Damn it, Otis. How many times have I told you , I don't want to know if you are guilty of this crime. In fact I prefer to not know."

"I ain't talking 'bout this case, man."

"Your jail house threats don't scare me. You're just mouthing off like you always do. You're all talk. You can either get right with me of I'm gonna withdraw as your lawyer. Que pas?"

" Now you's insulting my manhood. I've done learned me a few things about the law in here. You dis's me like that again, I'm a sue you for defecation of character."

"Defa--- what- of character?"

"You heard me the first time."

"Yes I sure did, Otis. Shitting on your character. I will not do that. Now you got my money or I'm telling the judge we have a witness problem and I am off your case."

"What witness-we ain't got no witness problem."

"Oh, but we do. I cannot locate Mr. Green and without him I cannot go forward.

Now Click on the Picture and you will be directed to the official site for this blogfest and you can read the entries submitted by the other participants.

Here is a link to my post from Monday: Characters on the couch. It did not post on Monday. I set it up on Sunday night to automatically post to my blog on Monday morning, but I just learned that it did not post.

I'm Hearing Voices

2012-02-06T07:00:00.000-08:00

I'm Hearing Voices! Character Blogfest

My Apologies. I wrote this post on Sunday night because I knew I would be away from my computer all day Monday & Tuesday~~ I scheduled this to post to my blog on Monday 2/6/12 @ 6:00 am. I just discovered that it did not post.

Click on the picture above and it will direct you to the official site for this blogfest.

Today is the first day of the blogfest hosted by Cassie Mae over at Reading Writing and Lovin it and Angie over at Live To Write...Edit When Necessary.

The blogfest is designed to help us flex our character writing muscles through three separate blog post. The first is today, the second will be on Wednesday, and the final post will appear on Friday, February 10th. Please check back on Wednesday & Friday for the subsequent post.

Today's Topic ~ Character on the couch day.

I have a series of questions to ask a character that I am have a particularly hard time writing. She is a potential antagonist/villain for a story and her name is Leigh Ann Dixon.

What is your biggest vulnerability, Leigh Ann? Do others know this or is it a secret?

LAD: This is all confidential, right? You are not allowed to ever share what I say to you to anyone? Okay, then. I have a hard time keeping a man interested in me. They start off strong, but they always back off quickly. I am sensitive to rejection. I don't tell people this, but men must have a way of sniffing it out because they use my vulnerability to hurt me.

What do people believe about you that is false?

LAD: That I am an extremely jealous and suspicious woman

What would your best friend say is your fatal flaw and why?

LAD: I don't have a best friend. Woman are backstabbers and cannot be trusted.

What would that same friend say is your one redeeming quality? Why?

LAD: Even my former so-called best friend would say that I am pretty & intelligent and I know
how to get what I want

What do you want most and what will you do to get it?

LAD: I want my family back the way it was before my ex-husband fell for that tramp and I will do
anything & I do mean anything to get it. I will get my husband back for my daughter if I
to kill the slut to make it happen

Thank you Leigh Ann, for sharing that.

Now hop over to the other blogs to hear the voices inside their character's heads

Insecure Writers Support Group

2012-02-02T12:35:00.000-08:00

Do Not Adjust Your Calendar. Today is not Wednesday, February 1st.

I am just a day behind. So much for my 2012 goals- I will not procrastinate
I will learn to manage my time more efficiently
I suppose my biggest insecurity at the moment is that Alex-The Group Therapist, will throw my sorry, lazy ass out of the support group. But, no you can't. I need my therapy.

_____________________________________________________

What am I insecure about as a writer? A whole lot of things.
_____________________________________________________

I think I must be insecure about, for lack of a better word or phrase: the fear of completion. Am I so afraid of failure and rejection that I am sabotaging my own chance of success? Let me try to explain. I thought I had a finished, complete novel. I was all geared up to send it to someone who graciously offered to critique it and I began to worry. On a positive note, I read Martha Alderson's new book, THE PLOT WHISPERER and I was impressed. I signed up for a series of plot consultations with her and I learned so much about story structure and sequence.

After our second consultation, Martha had a good idea about the plot, characters, theme and other importand story points of my novel. With the use of her plot-line and input I was able to rearrange the order of some of the scenes that I was on the fence about. The minor changes vastly improved my story. I am scheduled to start back this month with our ongoing plot consultations. This makes me happy. This is not my problem.

My problem seems to be that I am never completely satisfied. I am always reading new craft or technique books and starting over. I don't necessarily go all the way back to the beginning and start all the way over, but if I read a blog post or a book or I take a class, I inevitable end up picking an area of my novel and rewriting it.

Revisions and rewrites are part of the process, so what is my big problem, you ask? About 90% of the time I go back to my original version of the part I just had to take apart and dissect.

Why am I so afraid to just say, " This is it. This is my complete, revised, polished novel." ?

I have decided to send what I believe is my final draft to a professional editor. I just need to push myself. I get my MS ready to go, I research the professional editors & then Boom~~Fear~~ takes over and I start the same crap all over again. I tell myself that it is not ready for an editor.

Bottom line: I am afraid it just won't be good enough. That is the only explanation I can find. In my mind, until I am rejected I don't really know that it is not good enough.

Okay, that was hard to say. I am ashamed and embarrassed.

How do you convince yourself that your final draft ----is just that------your Final Draft?
________________________________________
I love comments & I appreciate each and every one. I am going to switch back & quit using DISQUS as soon as my Get Fired Up blogfest is over.

Until then, I am asking for you to please fill out the area that ask for your name, email and website when you leave a comment. If you don't then I cannot click on your name and be linked to your blog & I have to find you in my followers list, or hope to come across your name in the comment section of another blog or I have to google your name & blog. I just worry that I am not replying or reading your blogs and that really bothers me. I guess you could say I am very "insecure" about it.

I apologize for the inconvenience. I assure you it is temporary. I will return to blogger comments on 2/29/12-after the contest ends (I don't want to risk losing any comments from participants).

Thank you.

The Next Door Boys by Jolene b. Perry

2012-02-01T09:48:00.000-08:00

My Review: The Next Door Boys

Jolene Perry

This is a beautifully written story about faith, love, hope, family, uncertainty, overcoming adversity and accepting the life god has given you.

Leigh, the nineteen year old protagonist has ovarian cancer and is in remission when the story begins. She is still very weak from all of the treatments, but she is determined to go to college and live the life of a normal coed despite the apprehension of her protective parents.

Leigh is happy to be out from under the protective eyes of her parents. She moves in next door to her brother Jaron who keeps his eye on her thus alleviating some of their parents concern and worry. School is not as easy as Leigh hoped it would be as she is still recovering and gets weak easily. She finds herself overwhelmed with her studies and has trouble sleeping. Leigh wants to concentrate on school and her faith, but she makes time for sewing which is her passion. She doesn't have the strength for much more, especially a boyfriend.

Jaron's best friend and roommate, Brian is drawn to Leigh. He is not your typical college boy- at the age of twenty five, Brian is divorced and has a son. He struggles with his own inner demons as he has already experienced his fair share of life's difficulties. Everything about Leigh is special to Brian. He hopes it is time for his life to start working out for him. Brian sees so much goodness and light inside of Leigh. He is scared to let her know too much about his turbulent past so he keeps most of it a secret.

Can the two of them come together before it is too late? Will Leigh miss the opportunity to share love with the one person who has been falling in love with her since they met? Will they be doomed to another fated life?

This is a truly inspirational story of a girl accepting the life that she refused to come to terms with in the beginning. I really loved watching this friendship blossom over time into love. Jolene did an excellent job of building the romance between Leigh and Brian. This heartfelt story made me cry at times.

This is a very clean, refreshing story. This is not the type of story I usually read. I read mostly crime fiction, suspense and thrillers. I bought this book back in October, when it first came out, but I had so much going on in my life that I did not read it immediately. I have to admit not knowing that this was a Mormon or LDS fiction. If you like Christian fiction you will love this story, but even if that is not your genre preference, this book will surprise you. Don't be put off by the amount of religion in the first chapter. I almost was and I am so glad that I continued reading. This story would not have been the same without Leigh's powerful and unshakeable faith. Jolene Perry's story far exceeded my expectations. I am Jewish, but I enjoyed learning about this religion. One of my only complaints is that as a reader I did not have a good enough understanding of the Mormon faith to follow much of the terminology.

While on this subject, I have only two other problems with this otherwise excellent book. Some of the dialogue was weak. My only other issue deals with the character, Noah. For the most part, Jolene did an outstanding job of creating very believable, real , multi layered characters. Noah's actions concerning the breakup did not feel real to me. The way he handled this just seemed completely out of character with the character I felt I knew.

I absolutely loved Perry's creation of Leigh, who really evolves throughout the story and specifically when she comes to term with and accepts things that she refused to accept early on. At the end of the novel and the end of Leigh's character arc, she is at peace with her life. This is when I realized that this story could not have been told as poignantly without Leigh's true and unabiding devotion to her faith.

The plot was majestic. It was not too fast nor too slow. I especially liked the ending even though a fairytale happily ever after is not promised. I normally do not care for ambiguous endings where the author leaves it to the reader to draw their own conclusion. Jolene Perry's story is that rare exception. It takes a talented author in my opinion to effectivley pull this off. I like how Perry left the reader with just enough information to go on to allow us to reasonably conclude a happy ending. What is so spectacular is the reader's realization that there is more than one way to achieve a happy ending. When we accept the life that god has prepared for us, with any restrictions that may surface we can truly find peace and happiness. Faith and prayer give Leigh the ability to move forward with the life she has rather than living in the past, dwelling on what she cannot have.

I also enjoyed Jolene's beautiul and descriptive words. The imagery was powerful. This book left me thinking about how I would be-act-react if something this devistating happened to me. Would I have Leigh's faith and courage? Perry's work of fiction is incredible thought provoking. I thought to myself often through this book, "this could happen to me, my daughter, to any of us". Leigh has strong family support and her faith never waivered. I admired this character.

Jolene Perry wrote a fascinating story with an equally fascinating protagonist. This book is an enjoyable read with a powerful message that at times will pull your hearstrings. Leigh Tessman will impress you and she will work her way into your heart.

This was a refreshing break from YA paranormals.

THE NEXT DOOR BOYS, is well written, uplifting, rewarding and inspirational experience.

I highly recommend this novel to all young adult or adult contemporary fiction fans.

To purchase your own copy click here or here.

And be sure to visit Jolene Perry's blog Been Writing.

A-Z Blogging Challenge- First Day to Sign Up & almost 200 Entries

2012-01-30T10:57:00.000-08:00

Have You Signed up For 2012 A-Z Blogging Challenge?

Monday, January 30th: 1st day to officially sign up: Click on the A-Z photo above and it will take you to the official sign up link.

So I thought I would get an early start, a jump so to speak and head over to Arlie Bird's Blog at 9:30 a.m and guess what? 162 bloggers have already signed up and this is day one, before noon. Wow! That is all I can say.

Even though you can technically sign up until April, Arlie suggest signing up early because of all the pre-contest challenges. Those of you who participated last year know what this means, but I feel like a child waiting for Christmas. This is my first time to participate and the build up and anticipation is not unlike waiting to see what Santa brought me as a kid.

So get yourself out there so other bloggers can find you. Two months of mingling and meeting and greeting will allow you to get to know the other participants which will be favorable to you when determining your April strategy. Alex Cavanaugh has an easy to understand explanation of exactly what the A-Z challenge is and what you will be required to do during the month of April as a participant.

So head over now and sign up. The link will be open until Wednesday and after that you can of course still sign up, but by clicking on a tab or page link. You will also be able to sign up on any of the co-host websites. Don't worry, I am certain you will have no trouble finding the A-Z Blogging Challenge on almost every blog you visit.

While Arlie Bird, at Tossing It Out is the brain-child behind the unprecedented challenge, he has some awe-inspiring co-host. For more information and to stay on top of developments, I have listed the co-host and a link to each of their blogs.

I already mentioned Alex J. Cavanaugh, but here is a link to his homepage. The other co-host include Stephen Tremp, Jenny Pearson, Matthew MacNish, Tina Downey, Jeremy Hawkins, D.L. Hammons, Shannon Lawrence, Elizabeth Mueller, Damyanti Biswas, Karen Gowen and Konstanz Silverbow.

The A-Z Challenge has a facebook page and the official email address for your questions and comments is 2012azinfo@gmail.com and the twitter hashtag is #AtoZChallenge.

Are you participating? Have you signed up? Any advice for a newbie?

The Liebster Award & Celebrating 200 Followers

2012-01-29T02:46:00.000-08:00

I received the Liebster award. I am so excited.
Rosalyn Eves over at Thinking Through Our Fingers presented me with this award. Thank you for selecting me.

I am a huge fan of blog awards and blogfest and all other ideas that are aimed toward helping other bloggers. I just so happened to pick a great time to begin blogging. I began weeks before Alex J. Cavanaugh's Insecure Writers Support Group which was followed closely by Alex and Mathew MacNish's "Pay it forward blogfest". Those of you who have participated in one or both of these will appreciate how friendly they were to new or undiscovered bloggers. It was a fabulous way to increase your number of readers and allow bloggers to meet new and interesting bloggers.

.

The Liebster award is another award designed to bring traffic to bloggers with fewer than 200 followers. I received this award last week while I still had well under 200 followers.

Now, thanks to Shelley Sly I have reached my 200th follower milestone. Please take a few minutes to check out Shelley's blog.

As the lucky recipient of the Liebster award, it is now my turn to name five blogs with under 200 followers that I recommend you visit. This was hard because I have discovered quite a few new blogs lately that I absolutely love, many of which have under 200 bloggers. Unfortunately I am only supposed to name five. From what I understand this is not one of the awards were I am to name random things about myself. I haven't done that one yet, but I see it floating around. If I was to do anything more than pass this on to five more lucky recipients then I do apologize .

So without further ado. I give you:

1. Shell Flower

2. Len Lambert

3. Emily Moir

4. Jessica Salyer

5. Jennifer Young

I encourage, no I challenge all of you to please visit all five of these blogs if you are not already reading them. If they are not your cup of tea, you are no worse off. If however you discover a new blog that you enjoy, then you are one step closer to a new friend and in gaining that friend you did your part in helping fellow bloggers.

So what are you waiting for? Go visiting.

Index Card Storyboard

2012-01-26T17:22:00.000-08:00

How Do You Build Your Story?

Are you a plotter or panster? I have always been a panster and I find myself becoming a plotter-and loving it.

You already know how much I admire and love the plot whisperer, Martha Alderson. I have consulted with her a few times and I learned more in a few hours than in years of reading technique and craft books & taking on-line seminars and workshops. That is why one of the grand prizes in my blogfest is a two hour consult with her. I will return to our consulting at the end of the month when I finish other work projects.

I have also been reading another amazing book, Story Engineering, by Larry Brooks. Brooks host an incredibly helpful website/blog, storyfix. He teaches the six core competencies of successful storytelling.
1. Concept
2. Character
3. Theme
4. Structure
5. Scene execution
6. Writing voice

And how we need a complete understanding of how the four parts of story structure work together to create a well written book. " No single box contains the whole story. Each box is a subset, a part of the whole story. Only all four, viewed sequentially, do the storytelling job."

Part One: The Set Up
Part Two: The Response
Part Three: The Attack
Part Four: The Resolution

Of course it is much more complicated than I just touched on, but if you are looking for a way to understand story planning and how to make it all come together, this is a great book.

If you are asking yourself, "What do I write next?" or " What is the best order for my scenes?"
This book is for you.

Based on what I have learned so far with my plot consultations with Martha Alderson, I am restructuring the sequence of many scenes in my legal thriller that I thought was complete. The changes I have made have already improved my book. Alderson uses a plot line with three parts that is similar to Brooks's four part story model.

So, do any of you use storyboards, plot-lines or plot diagrams to organize the sequence and structure of your novel? If so, what do you use? Post it notes? A computer program? I'd love to know. I really like how this has shaped up my WIP.

I found a few ideas on the Internet.

Some photos and ideas taken from Diane Chamberlain's blog. Diane got her inspiration from Alexandria Sokoloff. Take a look at her blog, The Dark Saloon. Alexandria is an award winning author of several thrillers and she teaches scriptwriting courses.

Are you a plotter or a pantster? Maybe a combo of both? Have you always structured your stories the same way or have changed from plotter to panster or vice/verse? Do you use any visual aids to help you write your story?

Don't forget to sign up for either my blogfest or random drawing for amazing prizes. Here.

Rebel Writers Pledge 2012

2012-01-25T03:28:00.000-08:00

Rebel Writer's Pledge 2012

After you read this please scroll to the bottom to read about my Get Fired Up Contest. Make sure you are signed up for the amazing prizes.

Sheri Larson at Writers Alley is hosting this blog hop to rebel against our views from last year that hindered us from reaching our goals, and give us a new insight and fresh start.

.Well, I already missed the boat. I have got to become more organized and get my priorities in order. We were supposed to write a post on Monday, January 23rd, listing our goals for 2012, and highlighting one goal. Then our lovely host is going to compile a list of the goals we contributed to the group and post them for all to see.

We will leave the pledge badge on our site as a reminder of our goals. Sheri is doing this to join us as writers committed to achieving our goals and supporting each other throughout the year.

This is a wonderful idea.

I pledge the following goals for 2012:

1 . I will complete my manuscript revisions within 30 days and begin querying.

2. I will research the literary agent that I want to query.

3. I will not overextend myself. I will learn to say no when necessary and I will not obligate myself to anything unless I am positive that I can fulfill the commitment and I have my calendar with me or whatever I need to refer to for scheduling. I will do this to ensure that I am able to do the act I am agreeing to And I have with me at the time a method for adding this responsibility to my calender/reminders/alerts.

4. I will stick to a writing schedule because I get too easily distracted.

5. I will attend the New York Pitch Conference and Workshop in March and try to attend the Backspace Writers Conference in May.

6. I will treat my writing as a job and not a hobby. When I work as a lawyer that will be my priority, but when I work from home as a writer I will treat my writing as a career. I will not watch television, surf the net or work in my pajamas all day, (this will be hard-I never knew how much I would love working in my p.j.'s) but there is something to be said about feeling more professional when you look the part.

Why don't you check out some of the other participants & get inspired by their pledges

Have you signed up for a chance to win a Kindle Fire or a 2 hour plot consultation from Martha Alderson? You still have time.

Get Fired Up- How To Win Prizes

2012-01-21T17:29:00.000-08:00

Get Fired Up Blogfest- New Details For Additional Prizes:

Winners Choice: A Kindle Fire E-Reader
or

A Two Hour Plot Consultation With Martha Alderson.

If you have not already signed up to participate, sign up here.

For contest details:

Click here.
or
Visit my Featured Page.

Don't worry. You can also win a prize just for being an awesome,& cool blogger buddy. Some of you have already entered your names by leaving a comment with your email

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you don't have time to mentor a blogger you can still win a prize.

In the comment section of Any of my blog post between January 20 and February 29, 2012 just leave a comment and your email and you will be automatically entered to win your choice of a $50.00 Amazon gift card or two books by Martha Alderson, The Plot Whisperer & Blockbuster Plots.

Your name can be entered up to twelve (12) times.

1 entry for following my blog
1 entry for leaving a comment * this is the only requirement-please leave your email as well
1 entry if you use the word "leap" in your comment.
2 entries if you post a tweet about the give~a~way/blogfest
2 entries if you mention this on facebook
5 entries if you post about it on your blog & send me a link to the post
______________________________________________________________

That gives you 12 chances to win.
This is on the honor system. I am not going to check to see if you did the above.

1. Leave your comment
2. Include your email address
3. Use the word "Leap" - winners will be drawn randomly on 2/29/12 Leap Year
4. Tell me how many times to enter your name. (see above)

Get Fired up!

Win a Two Hour Plot Consultations With Martha Alderson or a Kindle Fire E-Reader

2012-01-21T01:28:00.000-08:00

Get Fired up to win one of two amazing prizes.

(1) Kindle Fire

(2) A two hour plot consultation with the amazing plot whisperer, Martha Alderson. This

prize is valued at ($280.00)

What do you have to do? Help a new, struggling or undiscovered blogger.

We all remember what is was like when we first started blogging. It is frustrating and confusing. I read a blog post on Alex's IWSG in November, by a blogger who was struggling to gain readers and followers. I often come across blog post by writers who are about to throw in the towel because they are posting consistently, but they just cannot seem to attract a wider audience.

Alex Cavanaugh and Matthew at QQQE hosted the "Pay it Forward" blogfest that was designed to help "under the radar" bloggers connect with fellow bloggers and the result was amazing. I am not trying to duplicate their blogfest. First of all I don't have the following or platform to plug anything that big. I decided a while back, when I reached 100 followers that I wanted to host something and award prizes as my way of recognizing how wonderful all of you are. I am a relatively new blogger and I have met some wonderful people. I have been so impressed with how easily and quickly this group of write/bloggers is to offer support or answer questions whenever the need arises.

I already had a few prizes that I was saving for this occasion. I had to delay it because of NaNo then the holidays and then my husband's illness. I now have even more prizes. Because two of these prizes are pretty big ticket items I thought it would be okay to ask your help in return for the opportunity to win.

Because I was so fortunate as a new blogger to have so many of you show me the ropes, I wanted to try and extend a helping hand to others I keep coming across who are struggling.

Once you sign up, all you have to do is be on the look out for bloggers who are new, don't have many followers, are struggling in some way or just have yet to be discovered so their blog is not reaching enough of us.

1. Sign up here

2. Look for or stumble upon a blogger in need

3. Offer to help them with whatever issue they are struggling with (this could be showing them how to make

sure their comment on a blog post links back to their blog or profile or making sure they have their blog

linked to their blogger profile.) There is no requirement here. It is simple really. Lend your blogging experience or expertise to help another blogger gain readers or help them with a problem they are struggling with. You could help them get their blog noticed by other bloggers. Offer to do a guest post on their blog or interview them on your blog. Do as little or as much as you are comfortable doing.

4. Do this from now until February 29th (Leap Year).

5. On March 1st post about it on your own blog. Tell us who you helped or discovered, what you did and provide a link to their blog so we can all visit the blogger you mentored.

6. One winner will select from the above two prizes.

7. 2nd place will win the prize not selected by the first prize winner.

If you have any questions, email me a sugarlaw67@yahoo.com

Read more about it on this page

2012-01-18T22:14:00.000-08:00

Get Fired Up-Blogfest & Prize Give~A~Way

Great Prizes.
1. Amazon Kindle Fire e-reader
2. Two Hour Plot Consultation with Martha Alderson
3. Scrivner Writing Software
4. Amazon Gift Card ($50.00)
5. Two Books by Martha Alserson: The Plot Whisperer
and Blockbuster Plots

Check back for details. You may sign up Friday, January 20, 2012 through January 29, 2012

Winners will be selected on February 29, 2012.

So Leap in and earn a prize. Your name will be entered into a random drawing for a $50 Amazon gift card and for two of Martha Alderson's books by leaving a comment with name and email.

Contest for the larger prizes will involve helping a new, struggling or undiscovered blogger and a second prize will be awarded to one creative person who comes up with a catchy name, title or phrase that I can use as a "subheader" on my blog.

Please check back between now and January 29th for more details and to enter to win one or more of the awesome prizes I am offering. Please spread the word.

Sign up below:

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Blogfest-Contest- Mega Prizes

2012-01-17T01:58:00.000-08:00

Blogfest- Prize Give Away

Greetings Blogger Friends.

Warning: This is a very long post: You may find that it is worth the read. I am offering some great prizes!!!!

It is mid January and time for me to return to the blogging world on a regular basis. I have checked in sporadically this month after dealing with my husband’s scary heart condition over the holidays. I am happy to report that he is doing well and we celebrated our birthdays this past weekend. My husband turned 68 today and I turned 45 on Friday, January 13^th. Yes, my birthday was on Friday the 13^th and it gets better~~I was born on Friday the 13^th. Spooky? Not to me. It is kind of cool.

Some of you may recall that I posted in late November about wanting to host a blogfest or some sort of contest. This idea originated as a way for me to show my gratitude for reaching an important blogging milestone, 100 followers. I have many other blogging milestones I want to celebrate and I really just want to host some sort of contest or blogfest to honor all of my blogging friends, readers and followers. I am truly honored to know all of you. It amazes me how much I have learned from many of you. It makes me smile to see how quick each and every one of you is to offer your help or support to me or any other new blogger (or veteran blogger) who has a question or is having a difficult time in our writing or personal lives. Ya’ll are the friendliest and most caring group of people I have had the fortune of getting to know.

I have given quite a bit of thought to what kind of contest or blogfest I should host.

Initially I did not want anyone to have to do anything special to have an opportunity to win one of the awesome prizes I have selected, but then I came up with a couple of topics that I could really use some help with. If you remember my earlier post, I offered to include some wickedly awesome prizes.

I intend to still offer them, but have actually upgraded one of the prizes. Because I am going to ask you to actually do more than leave a comment or be a follower for one of the prizes, I am upgrading my original Kindle e-reader prize to the King daddy Kindle prize- the Kindle Fire. My husband gave me a Kindle Fire for my birthday and it is so wonderful that I could not resist offering it as a prize. It is just too damn super-cool to pass up.

I am aware that many bloggers and blog readers will not want to participate in anything too time consuming so I will also offer two prizes for lucky readers who will not be required to do anything at all-well other than either posting a comment, following my blog etc.

So… Here is how this thing will work. The blogfest-contest will open on January 29, 2012 and will end on February 29, 2012. We will have one month to LEAP toward the goal line. Plus I need from now until January 29, 2012 to finally figure out how the heck to install a Mr. Linky thingy so that people can sign up and I can keep track of entries (*HINT-HINT) I welcome any advice, tips, ideas or suggestions from those of you who are skilled at this sort of thing. Anyone who can help me out- getting my blogfest up and running will receive one additional entry for one of the prizes.

Entry Requirements & Prizes:

Prize Number One -#1

One person will win a $50 Amazon Gift Card.

The only requirement for entry is that you follow my blog and leave a comment at the end of the Post, dated January 29, 2012.

Your name can be entered more than once. You will receive one entry for being a follower, one entry for leaving a comment on 1/29/12 (with your email address) and an additional entry for using the word “leap” in your comment. You will earn two additional entries for tweeting about the contest, two additional entries for mentioning the contest on Facebook and a whopping five more entries if you post about the contest on your blog and send me a link to your post. You do not get two entries each time you tweet or put it on fb, this is a onetime extra entry.

In summary. One person will win a $50 Amazon gift card. That means your name can be entered as many as twelve times. The winner will be selected on February 29, 2012 by random drawing.

Prize Number Two -#2

One lucky blogger will receive, not one, but two books written by the wonderful and successful, plot whisperer herself, Martha Alderson.

The winner will receive a copy of Alderson’s new book, The Plot Whisperer and also a copy of her older book, Blockbuster Plots which is an excellent companion book for The Plot Whisperer and includes a DVD with templates for creating your own Plot-line or Plot Diagram.

The same guidelines apply for prize number two as for prize number one. The only requirement for an entry to win these two fabulous books is for you to leave a comment at the end of my post on January 29, 2012. You can earn up to eleven more entries.

See examples set forth in prize number one.

Prize Number Three- #3

Okay bloggers, this is where the blogfest/contest involves a tad more of your involvement and time. This is precisely why the prizes will go up significantly in cost and desirability.

To enter you will need to add your name and information to the Mr. Linky (that will be provided shortly) if I have to beg or bribe some lovely blogger out there to set it up for me. Just kidding. I hope. I mean how hard can it be? Oh no. Every time I have ever made a statement like that I have been in for a rude awakening (like the time I erroneously assumed I could put a simple desk chair together for my daughter’s Christmas gift.)

In keeping with the original theme of my blogfest/contest/sweepstakes/give~a~way and my desire to show my appreciation to everyone for following my blog, reading my blog and mainly for becoming my friend and offering support and encouragement during my journey toward learning to blog and hopefully finding an agent, this next prize and requirement is intended encourage as many of you as possible to continue doing what you do best: Helping other bloggers, especially newer bloggers, find their way.

All of you remember what it was like when you began your first blog. I know you remember posting your articles while reading others and commenting on as many as you could. We all hoped to gain a loyal audience and we all know that it doesn’t happen overnight. We often struggle. We make mistakes. We question ourselves and often want to give up. There is nothing more frustrating than doing everything we are told to do, following all the rules and suggestions for building a blogging platform and hoping each day to gain new followers only to find that we still have very few.

I know how hard it was. I would read so many other blogs and comment faithfully, yet I still felt very lonely in the blogosphere. I Have read many heart wrenching stories and post from fellow newbies wondering and asking “what am I doing wrong?” Didn’t I read somewhere or hear somewhere, “If you build it, they will come.” So where are they?” We all know that it takes quite a bit time for the number of followers to grow. It is often so slow in the beginning that many bloggers who have much to offer throw in the towel. They cannot see the light at the end of the blog.

I was so impressed when Matthew and Alex started the “Pay it Forward” blogfest. It was awesome and it gave new bloggers a once in million opportunity to get out there and meet friends, to connect with other bloggers and to build their contacts.

Well I cannot copy their idea but I admire it too much to not try and do something similar in hopes of discovering more new bloggers, helping others connect with all of the fabulous people I have met, and hopefully to convince at least one struggling new comer to hang in there.

Pay it forward was incredible. It helped me immensely. I have, however met other new bloggers who said that even though they participated they still did not increase their on-line blogging presence or connection with others. This could be for a variety of reasons. It is quite possible that we inadvertently visited more bloggers that we were already familiar with than newer bloggers. It is also very possible that some of those new bloggers just do not realize how much time they will have to put in to the art of getting to know other bloggers.

I cannot answer that question. I can, however make another attempt for all of you great people out there to help me search for struggling bloggers who share our passion for writing.

Let’s find those who are still struggling. Let’s help new bloggers connect. If they are not making their site easily accessible to other bloggers, let’s show them how to do it.

I have an idea, but if you can think of a better way for me to host this then by all means please get in touch with me before the 29^th and share your idea. I cannot think of a better way to offer this kind of support to new or struggling bloggers than Pay it Forward did. I have been trying to come up with a second chance so to speak to offer this same sort of help. I have been thinking of ideas for weeks and nothing too remarkable comes to my mind.

So by all means, if you have an idea, Please, Please, Please share it with me. My goal is not for me to come up with the best idea, it is to try and accomplish much of what Pay it Forward did for new and struggling or ‘under the radar’ blogs.

Here is my idea. If you like it and think it will help, let me know. If you think it is a waste of precious time, let me know. If you can think of a way to improve it, let me know. If you know of a way that will work instead of this way, let me know.

For one month I am asking all of you to be on the lookout for fellow bloggers who are struggling to connect with other bloggers who share our passion for writing, reading , critiquing, agent hunting, publishing etc. and for new bloggers who are just getting started and are having a tough time figuring it all out. Look for bloggers who you know will make a great contribution to blogging if they can just get their feet off the ground, if they can just get their blog up and running, if they could just find a wide enough audience. You get the idea.

Here is the good part: You don’t have to go searching for them. We are all busy and barely have enough time to do everything we need to do as it is. But since you are going to be reading blogs anyway, if you stumble across the name of someone you don’t recognize (it doesn’t matter where you find this name) maybe they left a comment on a blog post that you regularly visit.

The point is- we all make an effort to visit the blogs of people who follow us or leave a comment on our post. This is probably not where we will find the new and struggling blogger. Chances are you come across unfamiliar names all the time when you visit the blogs of your friends and followers. If you do and if you have a little extra time that day, click on the name of the person you don’t know. If they don’t have a lot of followers and you see potential in the content of their blog-offer to help.

I would use the word mentor- but I am afraid of scaring you away. The mere mention of the word “mentor” conjures up images of us spending hours helping someone, hours we just don’t have. So call it a mini-mentoring. See if you can help them.

How you ask?

1. Offer to review their blogger profile and make sure they know how to make their blog easily accessible to other bloggers

2. Spend a few minutes answering any blogging questions they may have

3. If they have a good blog with good content, but are lacking an audience and you are a well known and respected name in the blogging world-offer to lend your name and status to help get them started. Offer to do a guest post for them and then promote it on your blog

4. Offer to introduce them to your blogging world via an introduction guest spot as a guest on your blog

5. Offer to help them with the design and layout of their blog- if you are gifted in this area

6. Give them a blog award , thus exposing them to many other bloggers

7. If they have a specific talent or expertise, offer to interview them about it on your blog or better yet see if you can get two more of your friends to do the same

8. Anything you can do to help new bloggers, undiscovered bloggers, struggling bloggers –get their blog up and running, or to help them widen or build their audience, or to convince them to stick it out, participate more and hang around long enough to enjoy the wonderful benefits of blogging, belonging to a close community of blogging buddies and the eventual benefits of building an on-line platform or presence.

So what’s they prize? And exactly how do I win it? You ask.

This will be an awesome prize and well worth any effort you put toward helping another blogger (in addition to the good feeling you get from helping a new or struggling blogger)

You have a month to help others:

Between January 29, 2012 & February 28, 2012

For every newly discovered or struggling blogger that you help, write a short post about who they are, what their blog is about and the help, support or advice you offered or shared with them. In your post link to their blog encouraging your friends and followers to check out their blog.

Then you can email me or leave me a comment and let me know who you have helped and a link to their blog or a link to your post about it.

That’s all.

If it sounds complicated let me know so I can try to simplify it. If it is too complicated let me know because my goal is to help and if this is asking too much from ya’ll then I will fail in my attempt to help those who struggle. I remember that feeling and I hope to alleviate it or reduce it for others with your help.

The judging for this will be somewhat subjective. I don’t see any way around that. I will try to engage the help of other bloggers who are not vying for this prize to help me select the winner or perhaps I can come up with a method for other bloggers to vote on the winner once all participants have posted their “I helped a fellow blogger” article.

And finally…The Prize

The winner will receive their choice of either of these two prizes. Not Both, choice of one.

Prize Choice Number One: The amazing, new kindle fire: from Amazon. The Kindle Fire is a full color 7” Multi-touch Display e-reader, complete with Wi-Fi. As the proud new owner of one I can attest that is it (as my kids would say) “The Bomb” It is the Cadillac of all e-readers. This prize is valued at $199.

Prize Choice Number Two: Two- One hour plot consultations with the remarkable author of The Plot Whisperer, Martha Alderson. Martha is affectionately called, “The Plot Whisperer. She is an amazing published author who most of you have heard of. For more information about Martha and her plot consultation services, visit her website http://www.blockbusterplots.com/

A two hour plot consultation with Martha Alderson cost two hundred and eighty dollar ($280). I am a client of hers and I cannot think of a better prize for an author, whether you are a published author or a novice. That is why I have selected this prize for this category.

Winners Choice: Kindle Fire e-reader or 2 hour plot consult with Martha Alderson

Prize Number Four #4

The fourth and final blogfest prize category and prize is again going to be a subjective decision as this challenge (so to speak) is intended to benefit me or my blog. I intend to update my blog design and layout at the end of this contest.

As everyone knows, if a blogger changes the name of their blog or god forbid the url, they often end up losing much if not all of their blog content. We also risk losing all of our followers, friends etc. I have learned from fellow bloggers and from experience (fortunately this happened to me when I first began blogging so I only had a handful of followers and I was able to locate them again) but I will not take that chance again. So, I am not willing to change either the name or the url for my blog.

I do however need to make some changes. If you read Laura Barnes blog, http://laurabwriter.blogspot.com/ you know that she critiques the blogs of other writers, FAMP: From A Marketing Perspective.

I love Laura and am a faithful reader of her blog. I have not yet dared let her critique my blog, but I have learned so much from reading her honest and helpful critiques of many other writer-bloggers. I am the first to admit that I did not have a clue what I was doing when I created and designed my blog. My blog is called “Have you Heard?” Why? Um, not sure. It sounded good at the time or maybe it made sense once upon a time, or maybe not…

I cannot remember.

Perhaps it meant: Have you heard, Hey have you heard, Melissa just wrote a best selling novel? Okay well a girl can dream? And should. Right?

Not that I really understand google key words or seo and all that stuff, but I do know that changing the name of your blog is like supposedly the worst thing you can do if you want to ever drive traffic to your site. I also know (thank you Laura Barnes) that I need to have my actual name associated with my blog. So if it is not part of my blog address and it is not part of the name of my blog, I need to do something about it. I have also learned that when people first land on my blog, my header or sub-header needs to tell them what my blog is about.

Mine does not! Nuff said.

I want to change that and am turning to you for help. Yes there will be a prize.

The girls over at the cutest blog on the block are going to make some changes to my blog very soon. I will be adding a sub-header directly under my header.

The purpose of the sub-header is to tell people who I am and what my blog is about as soon as they land on my page.

The challenge is for you to come up with a quirky, unique, cool, different way of doing this. I am not changing my crazy design.

I actually like my bright, bold, funky colors and design. I know it is not very professional (that is what my author website will be for). I am so tired of having to have everything generic and bland for my law firm, law office, law firm website right down to the neutral clothes and fingernail polish that I wear as a lawyer for court. I want to be able to express my fun and quirky personality in my personal blog. I am saying all this so that your suggestions are not for me to tone it down.

SO: THIS IS WHAT MY BLOG IS ABOUT (IN A NUTSHELL):

This is my personal blog. This is a place for me to meet and communicate with other writers and readers. I am a pre-published (like that better than unpublished) author who writes legal thrillers/mystery/suspense/courtroom drama.

I blog about my life as a mom, lawyer and a writer.

This is my journey toward finding an agent and eventually becoming a published author..

This year I intend to blog on a regular schedule of Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. I will blog on other days as time permits. I will share excerpts from my novel and share my trials and tribulations of revisions from my just completed novel, my new work in progress, my query letters and responses or lack thereof from agents. I am not a published author so I will not be offering advice in a professional capacity, but I will share with readers the steps I take and the mistakes I make.

I will share what does and does not work for me. I will write post on writing tidbits, pointers, and things I have learned either from other writers, blogs or through trial and error.

I will share my TBR list and I will review the books I read this year. I will promote other blogs, authors-especially debut authors.

I will share links to post from writer’s blogs that I find helpful, informative, creative or useful. I will share links to sites that I find helpful for writers. I will participate in and promote challenges and blogfest hosted by other bloggers.

I can answer any specific questions you have about what I want my sub-header to say. It can be long or short and punchy. If my name and that I am a writer can somehow be used together in a clever and catching way, we will have a winner.

Your entry can be serious, humorous, metaphorical or mysterious or a combo platter.

I am eager to be surprised.

The Challenge, should you choose to participate:

Come up with a clever or unique sub-header that will show readers who I am and what my blog is about.

Leave a comment with your email telling me that you would like to enter. There is no limit to the number of entries that you can submit.

Email your entry-ideas to me at sugarlaw67@yahoo.com or as I see other people display their email sugarlaw67 at yahoo dot com

Contest is open from 1/29/12 - 2/29/12

I will select the winner within 48 hours and you will be notified by email.

Okay, okay. I know. Get on with it.

The Prize: Your choice of either of the two prizes:

Prize Choice number one . Scrivner Software for Mac. Value $40

Prize Choice number two. Amazon $50 Gift Card.

Thank you in advance to all who participate. Thank you for your continued friendship and support. Writer/author bloggers are the best.

What is in a Name

2012-01-03T12:01:00.000-08:00

What Does Your Name Spell To You?

Random & Silly

My son who is in the 4th grade had a fun homework assignment last night. He was instructed to spell out the letters of his first and last name vertically and then he was supposed to write the first word that came to his mind that started with each individual letter. The teacher cautioned the students not to spend time thinking of a word or looking for a word. "Just write the very first word that pops in your head"

Sounds easy enough.

Okay. Here Goes.
Manuscript
Eggnog
Laughter

Ipad
Sex
Sangria
Attitude

Secret
Unique
Goals
Argue
Rollarblades

Now, it is your turn.

and if anyone out there knows how to analyze this kind of acrostic poem or word game, please feel free to tell me if I am nuts or am I just craving alcohol, sex and ???? what?? rollarblades??

Happy New Year

2012-01-01T04:58:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year

Do you make resolutions? I have never been one to make New Year Resolutions because I don't like to set myself up to fail. I decided this year I am going to try something different. I won't call them resolutions, Per Se. I think a better word for what I am aiming for is Goals.

Do you have an itemized list? I wish I had

the dedication and resolve to make a list and actually see it through, but I am afraid I would just be adding to my other list: List of things I worry about completing.

So instead, I have goals

for

1. Finish my novel that I thought was finished until I began my plot consultations with Martha Alderson (she is wonderful)

2. Create and stick to a writer's schedule

3. Be a good critique partner

4. Finally attend a writer's conference (I will make this happen)

5. Be more present with my children

6. Make more time for family

7. Be more committed to my blog

8. Be a better friend

9. Set realistic daily, weekly and monthly writing goals

10. Be more appreciative for what I have

11. Have more fun

12. Say "I'm sorry", "I love you" and "I forgive you" more often

13. Try to get organized and finally get rid of unnecessary clutter

14. I will NEVER text while driving-nothing is so important that it cannot wait.

15. Perfect my query letter & start the process

So how about you? What are your goals or resolutions for 2012? How successful have you been in the past with your resolutions?

I wish you all a very happy, healthy and productive new year.

* My apologies for being MIA the entire month of December. My husband's heart went into v-tach and we had a very close call. Two surgeries later, new stents and a defibrillator he is recovering nicely at home. I will be playing catch up, but I have returned to a regular blogging schedule. I look forward to reading all of your current post and hopefully many that I missed. I intend to get started this week with a blogfest of give~a~way to show my appreciation to everyone who reads and follows my blog. It is great to be back

DeJa Vu Blogfest

2011-11-22T23:57:00.001-08:00

DeJaVu- December 16th
The Day of The Do Over.

If you have not already heard about this awesome blogfest then I will tell you a little bit about it, but you really must pop over to D.L. Hammond's blog to get the full details and to sign up.

D.L was talking about how if you have to miss a week of blogging you can really miss some important post from your fellow bloggers. I agree. Another interesting point that he made was about one of his favorite blog post on his blog. It just so happens that he only had about a dozen or so followers when he posted it.

I have a post or two that I wrote when I had only a handful of followers so I am certain that not many people read my entry. D.L came up with this brilliant idea for us to gather our favorite post and join this blogfest.

On December 16, we will all post (re-post) our favorite blog post or one that we believe did not receive the recognition it should have. This is an excellent opportunity for everyone to read " The best of the best."

D.L has actually been promoting this idea for a while. You can read an earlier post of his about re-posting some of our better blog post. You can read his post blog recycle station to get an idea of just how great of an idea this is.

This blogfest is also being hosted by Katie Mills, The Creepy Query Girl, Lydia Kang, over at The World is My Oyster and Nicole Ducleroir, at One Significant Moment at a Time.

So here is what you need to do and it couldn't be easier- No Writing Involved

   1. Go to any of the above four sites and sign up with Mr. Linky

   2. Shout out to all your friends

   3. Grab a DeJa Vu Badge and post it anywhere and everywhere-think blogging
   graffiti gone wild

   4. Dig through your archives and find one of your post that deserves a
   second chance or a do-over

   5. On December 16th hop from blog to blog and read the "best of the best"

Happy Thanksgiving to all and Happy Blogging

My NaNoRoomo. I Live in the Bathroom

2011-11-15T23:25:00.001-08:00

I have officially kicked my husband out of the bathroom.

We have six kids and four bedrooms. The Only place I get any privacy is the master bathroom. For some reason, my kids, husband and even our two dogs leave me alone when I am in the bathroom. Imagine that.

My entire family is wondering why mom has so many stomach aches lately. You should hear the hushed comments at dinner "pss. man, mom sure does go to the bathroom a lot now, what's she been eating?" "I don't know dude, but did you see her carrying those books in there? Gross, she is turning in to dad. She must be reading on the toilet like dad does with the sport's section." Ha Ha tee hee. and they laugh.

But, I have the last laugh. They don't have a clue.

I suppose I feel sorry for my husband, he has to use one of the kid's bathrooms, but I am getting pretty cozy in mine. I cannot believe that this was the answer all a long.

Who knew? I can actually get work done? I can write. I can chart. I can make really big plotlines and plot charts & character boards and nobody bothers them or tells me to move them.

and I can read! Undisturbed. I know what you are thinking, "I sound disturbed." I have moved into the bathroom for the month of November.

Don't worry, there is a bathtub & a shower (so the tub is a little hard to use at the moment) & I won't show you the toilet or my husband really would kill me.

I have everything I need. I even took all of the towels out of the armoire and I am using it for , you guessed it, books.

and... just tonight, I moved another table and my desktop in to my bathroom.

Now if I could get a bed in to my bathroom, I would not have to leave until December 1st. I may play this mommy has a tummy ache game even after NaNo ends.

So how about you? Do you have a special place to write? Have any of you had to create make-shift writing spaces? I would love to hear your creative ideas? A closet? A bathroom?

NaNo-Napped & Big News. Big Prizes

2011-11-14T20:41:00.001-08:00

I have Been NaNo Napped

My fingers and hands ache and I am eating far too much processed food, but I am on a roll.

I feel terrible that I have not posted or visited any blogs in over a week. I decided at the very last minute to participate this year and without any prep work I have needed every free minute to write.

I know that I missed out on some cool contest & blogfest that I was intending to join, but I plan to make it up to everyone.

My writing is progressing better than expected. I am using Scrivener and it so rocks. I cannot believe I waited this long to try this awesome software/word processor for writers. It has an easy learning curve and offers more than enough features. Take a look at these screenshots.

I have really missed everyone that I have met through blogging. I feel disconnected. I didn't expect this.

I am taking a much needed break from writing tomorrow because I have a scheduled plot consultation with Martha Alderson and I am so psyched.

Martha is the author of several books, her most recent, THE PLOT WHISPERER is amazing. After reading it twice I decided that the fee for her consultation is more like an investment in my writing career.

And now for my big news....

I was planning to host some sort of contest or blogfest when I reached 100 followers. I have now reached 150 and I want to celebrate and show my appreciation to all of you.

Please keep in mind that I am new to this and I have no idea how to host a contest or a blogfest. (note to self-call Alex)

But, I will figure it out. The contest is not as important as the reason behind it & the really, really awesome prizes I have selected.

I have given this a great deal of thought and I want to show everyone how much I appreciate you reading my blog and offering such helpful advice and ideas whenever I have questions, Yes I know I have a lot.

The contest or blogfest itself will be very easy to enter and I will post the complete details when I can think of them hint* I welcome your ideas and suggestions on a specific type of contest or blogfest that you like to participate in.

and now for my list of prizes...

(1) one winner will receive a 2 hour plot consultation with Martha Alderson- valued at $280
(1) one winner will receive a Kindle e-reader (value &79+)
(3) winners will receive a copy of Martha Alderson's new book, The Plot Whisperer -value $9.00

Who knows, I may even have more prizes. It depends on how many people sign up. This will not involve any skill or talent. It is basically my way of sharing my appreciation and hopefully a way to allow more bloggers to get to know each other and connect with bloggers they do not already know.

So if you read all the way to here. Please pass the word. The contest or blogfest will not begin until after NaNo ends. I am thinking of starting it in early December and ending in time for winners to receive their prizes before Christmas.

Bye~for now!
Happy Writing!

Insecure Writer's Support Group.

2011-11-03T02:42:00.000-07:00

Literary Classics I Hated, But We Are Expected To Love

This is the first Wednesday of the month of November so it is that time again. For those of you not familiar with Alex Cavanaugh's Insecure Writer's Support Group, please visit his blog and check it out.

I almost forgot that today was the day because I have been frantically busy with NaNo as I decided to participate at the very last minute. So my IWSG post will be short, but nonetheless it is something I am afraid to share with all of you. I am even worried that I will catch a lot of backlash after this post.

My Insecurity today is more about my insecurity as a reader than a writer, but it all ties together. Okay, here goes.

It seems to me that all good writers are also lovers of the literature classics. I am not and I fear that this will make me look like a less talented writer in your eyes. I do not dislike all of the classics , in fact I have enjoyed reading a great many of them. However, there are a great number of titles that I have read (mostly because they were assigned reading material at some point in my life.

Here is a list of some of the classics of literature that I struggled to finish, that failed to capture my attention or dazzle me. I have never shared this with anyone. Having been an honor student in college and law school it would have been a disgrace for me to tell anyone that these books not only did not due it for me, but actually finishing each of them was worse than a triple root canal- without the gas.

They are in no particular order of bad to worse.

Great Expectations (without a doubt the most miserable reading experience I've have).
War and Peace
Moby Dick
Foucauit's Pendulum
The Waste Land (and other T.S. Elliot poems.
Naked Lunch
The Illad and Odyssey of Homer
Walden
The Old Man and the Sea
Wuthering Heights
The Sound and the Fury (and I graduated from Ole Miss-How can I not like this book)

I am not completely void of a love for the classics. There are quite a few that I actually loved.

The Great Gatsby
Slaughterhouse-five
Catcher in the Rye
Lord of the Flies
Deliverance
Gone With the Wind
Uncle Tom's Cabin
To Kill a Mockingbird

I am sure there are more that I love and more that I did not love, but the ones listed are those that came to my mind rather easily.

Perhaps I was too young when I read those that I struggled to finish...No. I just did not like them.

So I am insecure about my lack or literary sophistication.

If I Had All The Magic Powers in The World

2011-10-31T12:35:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween! Are you ready for Elizabeth Mueller's Spookfesta?

Elizabeth is an amazing author and today is the day her novel, DARKSPELL launches. In honor of her book's premier she is hosting this spookfesta. You will want to visit her blog soon and check out her awesome book and her fascinating illustrations that she created for the book. You can order your signed copy of DARKSPELL on her blog or on her author's website.

Elizabeth spent over 150 hours illustrating for her spectacular debut novel.

Blurb: Winter Sky believes she is everything ordinary . . .until she is kissed by Alex Stormhold.

As seer of Stormhold Coven, Alex is sworn to be Winter’s protector against the darkness that hunts her. Violently thrust into a magical realm she always thought impossible, she stumbles upon a disturbing secret of her own. Will love prove thicker than magic?

I have suddenly been graced with all the magic power in the world. What magic powers will I choose and how will I use them? Will I use my powers for good? I think it is a given that I will use my magic power to write the most fascinating story that will intrigue readers all over the globe.

Of course since I have magic powers, I will be able to produce this masterpiece by merely twitching my nose. And because I can create such wonderful works of fiction with rapid speed; my novels will magically appear on the the N.Y. Times best seller list.

I will also experience the freedom of a shape shifter. I will be able to shift into animal form and this will be helpful as I am always getting myself in trouble. Now, I can just shift & flee.
.

Speaking of freedom - I cannot pass up the opportunity to fly. I have vivid dreams in which I fly and it is so exhilarating. I don't want to wake up. I want to fly...

and I will have the power of teleportation, like the kid in Steven Gould's novel JUMPER, who teleports to escape his abusive father.

I will be invisible (when it suits me). Oh, just think of all the times we have said how much we would love to be a fly on the wall...well being invisible is so much better. Not only can I observe whatever I want, I sort of like the idea of messing with peoples heads. You know like moving an object or knocking a painting off the wall. This could definitely get me into some big trouble.

I will be able to eat whatever I

want& I will never gain weight.

More magic I will have

Ability to freeze people & objects
Ability to heal people
Ability to bring back life to those who have died
Ability to predict & see the future *yes, I am gonna get in trouble with this one. I can suddenly see my power going to my head will I be a superhero or a mega villain?

Ability to travel back and forth through time

But if I can only chose one magical power, I will have to choose the magical ability to read peoples minds and thoughts, much like the telepathic Sookie Stackhouse.

Thanks for reading. Now head on over to Elizabeth Mueller's blog and order a signed copy of her debut novel, DARKSPELL, a YA paranormal romance that promises mystery, suspense and mesmerizing characters.

You can also purchase DARKSPELL in paperback or the kindle version at Amazon

Question & Answer Time- What's Your Comment Policy

2011-10-31T03:57:00.000-07:00

I have Questions. I hope you have Answers.

What is your commenting policy?

I have been trying really hard to show my appreciation to the wonderful blogging friends that I have made, but I feel like I am failing miserably.

I have been blessed with a lot of new followers and my goal has been to follow their blogs as well. I try to read their post and leave comments. I posted about this before and talked about how frustrating it is to click on the photo of a follower and land on their profile page only to discover that I cannot find a link to their blog.

I received some helpful comments from all of you to this frustrating situation. Most of you have experienced this and stated that you try to locate the blog, but with your limited amount of time if you cannot find it you have to just move on. One reader even mentioned that perhaps my new reader (follower)-I hate using that word, it makes me feel so snobby -I prefer to refer to my followers as my readers, anyway I was told that maybe my reader just doesn't want to share their blog with me. That is okay. I totally understand that. I realize also that not every reader-follower has a blog. I get that as well.

My concern is that I am missing a whole lot of followers, that do in fact have blogs that they do want me to read and that they do have linked to their blog.

I am new at this and I know I am going to make rookie mistakes, but I am really missing something big here. I am missing something Important. I need your help.

Okay...I hope I can write this in a way that it makes sense. When I click on the photo of a follower, most of the time it takes me to a google or blogger profile page that list the person's about me information, a list of blogs that they follow and a link to their blog. It usually reads, my blog.

Now I hope these three photos or screen shots are visible to you. The first one shows you what I see when I click on my followers. The second one shows you what I see most of the time, when I click on the name of one of my followers( I just picked a random name) of someone whose blogger profile links to their blog.

The third screen shot shows what I see the other 25% of the time, when I click on the name or photo of a follower. It takes me to their profile, but I cannot see their link to their blog.

For the longest time I just assumed it was because they do not have their blog connected by link to their profile page. I started doubting this reasoning when I discovered that about half the time this is what is occuring.

My suspiscions were confirmed when I was fortunate enough to come across the bloggers name as they commented on another blog I follow. When I click on the link inside a comment on another blog, I am able to see the link to the blog that is missing when I do this from my own blog

The reason I chose Nisa for the third screenshot is not random like the first two. I chose Nisa because she was my 100th follower and I have been eager to thank her in a blog post and to read her blog, follow it and comment on her content, and I am becoming extremely frustrated that I cannot link to her.

The only explanation that I have been able to come up with is this...A week or so ago in an effort to better reply to the comments that you are so gracious to leave on my blog post, I installed a third party comment gadget that many successful bloggers rave about. Please view my DISQUS DASHBOARD

Up until now, I thought DISQUS was like the cat's meow. It allows a blogger to reply or respond to a commenter, directly inside the original comment. It is not just for the blog owner (so we don't have to create a separate and new comment each time we reply to a comment) but it also allows other commenters to reply to anyone's comment. It allows two or more bloggers to carry on a conversation, all within the original comment. There are many other cool features. I am afraid that this new comment service is preventing me from clicking on the name of a person leaving a comment unless that person also subscribes to DISQUS, hence the reason only a handful of commenters are listed in pink with a hover over link (or whatever it is called when you can click on the text & be directed to a link)

I am having another problem with DISQUS, it is connecting me to a different google profile page than my blogger profile, but that is the topic for a separate post on something else I do not fully comprehend-linking your blogger profile to your google followers to your google friends. Sigh! It is exhausting just thinking about all the stuff I must learn to be a better blogger

So...

Please let me know. Is it more difficult for you to leave comments on my blog now that I am using, DISQUS?

If any of you currently use DISQUS, do you have any advice or tips for me?

Because I really do want to make it easier for you to leave comments on my blog. More importantly, I have to find out what I am doing wrong so that I do not miss out on the opportunity to follow the blogs of those following me.

What is the secret code? Tell me please. How do I make sure I can link to the bloggers profiles who signed on to be my friend and who I think would like me to follow them as well.

Anyone use a third party html gadget for comments other than DISQUS that you like? Do tell.

Thank you for following my blog and leaving comments. I genuinely appreciate the time and effort it takes. I want to be able to do the same. This is such a helpful group of people. Thank you to all of you and I will be so grateful for any comments, suggestions,

critisims & tips.

Happy Commenting

Blog Awards

2011-10-29T23:00:00.000-07:00

I Received Two (sort of like three) Blog Awards.

It is quite an honor to receive a blog award. I feel validated. I hope that I have not offended any of the gracious bloggers who bestowed these awards upon me by taking longer than I anticipated to accept them and pass them forward.

My First Award "One Lovely Blog"
Was actually given to me by two very kind bloggers. I will thank them in the order I received it. I almost called this award the "Don't Hate me because I am beautiful award"

Why? Because the first person who gave me this award, Colin D. Smith, titled his blog post, "Don't Hate Me Because I am Beautiful". He is a talented writer and creative blogger. He is also a theologian and you should definitely check out his blog and read some of his flash fiction. It is my understanding (please forgive me if I leave anything out) that I am to thank the person who gave me this blog and then pass it on to fifteen (15) other deserving lovely bloggers. So a great big thank you, to Colin Smith for thinking of my blog and of me.

But wait... I have more good news. Another super great blogger friend also considered me worthy of this cool and lovely award. This next person is someone I really admire. Eve.E, is certainly not clueless, but that is the name of her cute and quirky blog, Clueless Eve. Eve has only been blogging since August of this year and she already has a large and loyal following. The very first time that I stumbled upon Eve's blog was a day that she was considering throwing in the towel and giving up on her desire to blog. Like all new bloggers ( don't I know it) Eve was frustrated and confused. She did not know what to blog about and she worried that we were not interested in reading her blog. Fortunately, Eve is a survivor and she stuck with it (with a little help from her friends-and a lot of help from Alex Cavanaugh and Matt MacNish over at QQQE)

Thank You, Eve for selecting me as a recipient of this most treasured and lovely blog award. And thank you Eve, for demonstrating courage and resiliance and continuing to delight us with your very lovely blog. It is indeed lovely. Eve's blog design is cute, quirky and colorful. I always smile when I land on her blog. Her design is full of perky purple and cool doodling. Eve uses the best pictures and cartoons in her post. If you are feelling gloomy and want to perk up, hop on over to Eve's for entertainment.

Before I announce the next 15 lucky recipients of the One Lovely Blog Award, I want to thank all of you, my blogger friends for being the best group of people I have had the opportunity to know. If someone would have told me how friendly, warm and supportive all of you would be I would not have believed it. It is probably difficult for non-bloggers to understand, but I have felt an almost instant kinship with the group of bloggers (especially writer-bloggers) that I have met. I am proud to call you my friends. I want to thank you for reading my blog, for commenting, for joining as a friend or follower and for just being such awesome and sincere people.

Okay, On with it you say. (I know-long blog post are taboo)

One more thing. I am only selecting fifteen (15) not thirty (30) -two awarders-one award. Remember? If you have already received this award, my apologies. Please just accept it and of course you do not have to award it to others, again.

Krista at I Take The Pen
Melissa Ann Goodwin
Laura Josephsen
Laura at Daily Dodo
Jamie Burch
Ryshia Kennie at Once Upon a Time
Jennifer Shirk at Me My Muse and I
WilyBCool at To Move Forward and Live
Mommy Bags
Judie at Miss Steps and Milestones
Katie Mills at Creepy Query Girl
Stephen Tremp
Nick Hight at Writing Fire
I'm Erin
The East Coaster

There you have it. Fifteen awesome, cool, and superb blogs . Please check them out. I tried very hard to pick really good blogs and I searched the sites to make sure they were not already winners of this award. If I selected duplicates, my apologies.

and...because this post is already too long, I will make a new post for my new award.

Warm Fuzzies Blogfest

2011-10-28T22:24:00.000-07:00

When You Tell People You Are A Writer

Juliana Brandt is hosting a blogfest.
I just love
the name of it.
Don't you?

I am rather late joining this awesome blogfest, but I did sign up in time (barely). Our first post is due today. I am running late as today concluded another KILLER blogfest that I participated in.

When I read the prizes for this blogfest, I knew that I could not pass up an opportunity to win a 30 page manuscript edit by the wonderful editor, Susan Buie.

This blogfest will take place over the next four weeks. According to our fabulous host, Juliana Brandt, we will celebrate being writers and revel in the amazing community surrounding us. You have to admit that the writer-blogging friends that we have made are a pretty cool and unique bunch.

To begin the fest we are going to tackle the issue of those who aren't in our community.

Today's Topic: How do you broach the subject of writing with other people who are not authors?

I talked about this very issue during my last post for the Insecure Writer's Support Group, IWSG.

Most of the time I don't broach the subject with non writers. Why not? I have a variety of reasons. The primary reason is one that I have only recently admitted to myself. Is it the need for validation? Partly. Up until a few years ago, I referred to my writing as merely a hobby. I suppose I did so because I was afraid of the reaction I would get. This confirms my self doubt.

Why don't I announce to others with pride that I am a writer? I have no problem telling others that I am an attorney or speaking of my day in court with confidence. I feel certain that once I become a published author (notice I do not say-if I become a published author) I will no longer feel insecure about declaring myself an author or a writer.

I know that this makes me seem shallow. Why should I care so much about what others think? Why do I need publication to validate my skills and talent as a writer? I don't know. I think we all want that validation.

On the rare occasion that I do talk about being a writer with other non writers, I usually walk away feeling frustrated. It goes something like this:

" Hi, how have you been, Melissa? You still prosecuting?"
" Actually, I'm in private practice now. It gives me more time to spend with my kids and on my writing."
" Really. You're not still trying to be a writer are you? "

Or here is another one:

"This is my wife, Melissa."
"Nice to meet you, you're a lawyer right?"

hubbie interrupts, " She is and she is a writer, tell 'em honey, about the book you are writing."
I blush " It's a legal thriller about-"

I'm interrupted again "That's cool, I've been toying with the idea of writing a book myself. Yea, I don't have far to go. As soon as I can get a week off I'm gonna finally sit down and put it on paper. So how long have you been working on your book, Melissa?"

"Uh well I finished the first few drafts and I am editing now, so a little over a year."

"You're joking. She's a funny one. Well take some advice from me, you need to really focus. Get away one weekend, head up to a secluded cabin and hammer that thing out. A year, sheeeitt, I could have written six books if I had a year to do nothing else."

And My Favorite:

"So you write? It is so easy to get published these days, I heard anyone can do it."

And I cannot leave out the remark my ex-husband made recently at a state bar function (we are still friendly). We were introduced to an aspiring young author from New Orleans (who by the way has since become a well recognized published author) he was attending the function with his wife an attorney. After he walked away, my ex- leaned over to my husband and me and said " At least you're a woman and you have a career, Melissa. How would you like to be that loser? When people ask him what he does for a living all he could say was that he writes. How humiliating. Poor dude, thinks he's gonna be the next Grisham. He needs to find a career first."

I was horrified. The joke was on my ex as that writer is very well known today.

But can you see why I hate to even mention that I am a writer? I am ashamed that I feel like I have to be published to be worthy of the title, writer- but public opinion of non or pre-published authors can be brutal.

Want to read more entries? Click here

Want to learn more about the talented editor who is offering A 30 page manuscript critique as a prize. You can view Susan Buie's blog here and her website here. This is an amazing prize valued at $300-400 bucks.

There are other prizes as well. Juliane is offering one of her handmade journals and Saba is donating this book.

It is a "do it yourself autobiography". Visit her blog for additional prizes.

So, do you tell other non writers that you are a writer? Do you have any funny, sad or inspirational stories to share?

Killer Antagonist

2011-10-28T02:59:00.000-07:00

Killer Antagonist- Anton Chigurh

Part 3 -Killer Characters Blogfest

Today is the last day of the Killer Character Blogfest hosted by E.R. King and Deana Barnhart. Today we name the antagonist that haunts our dreams. I had a hard time with this one because my original choice, while technically a bad guy, is someone I actually find myself rooting for. Yikes, I root for a serial killer. Well you can probably guess who I am not choosing (DEXTER).

In keeping with the Killer Characters theme, I am going with a really evil antagonist. This character kills for no reason. I am talking about Anton Chigurh, the indescribable monster-villain created by Cormac McCarthy in his novel NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.

Javier Bardem does an outstanding job playing the character that won him a much deserved Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

.

"You cannot really understand him completely," Bardem said of his character. "The good thing about Anton Chigurh is that he can't be described. He's not even described in the book by Cormac McCarthy. He doesn't need to be explained."

If you have not read No Country for Old Men, better yet, if you have not seen this film then you have not come face to face with pure evil. You don't understand his violence. You cannot pinpoint it. There is no reason behind it. You cannot escape it.

He's "the devil incarnate," "No Country" co-star Josh Brolin said in a press interview released by Miramax.

"You don't understand [his violence], you can't pigeonhole it. You can't categorize it," Brolin said. "He's very malleable, but not malleable on your terms, malleable on his own terms."

BTW- (I have a huge crush on Josh Brolin-so I had to add his photo)

Watch this clip from NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN and judge for yourself. If there is a scarier dude out there; I have not read about him.

My favorite scene has to be the coin toss scene as it demonstrates Anton Chigurh's indiscriminate, unfathomable lack of conscience. His fascination with coin flips show us that his threats are never spelled out, his motivations never known. That's his power. It's his choice whether you live or die and he leaves it up to the random toss of a coin. Your life doesn't matter. It is his game.

And because Javier Bardem is so convincing as Anton Chigurh, here is a short clip of Javier talking about the movie. Take a look at how completely different Javier is than his character Anton Chigurh.

Happy Halloween Everyone. I want to thank you for visiting my blog and reading my choices for the Killer Character Blogfest.

Take a look at the rest of the entries. Visit E.R. King's blog, Get Busy Writing

Take a look at who I picked as my favorite literary protagonist and my choice for best supporting literary character.

Best Literary Protagonist

2011-10-26T01:44:00.000-07:00

Part 2- Killer Character Blogfest.

Today we name our favorite literary protagonist or one who has haunted our dreams.

My choice could easily be labeled a villian, but I am listing him as the choice for protagonist. In keeping with the Killer Character theme, I have contemplated not just evil characters, but malevolent characters who can masquerade as normal.

My choice: Tom Ripley from Patricia Highsmith's THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY and sequals.

What makes Tom Ripley haunt me at night is ability to blend in with everyone and his matter-of-fact attituded toward murder and mayhem. At times he is able to evoke sympathy. He suffers momentary pangs of remorse or disquieting thoughs on occasion, but in general he "slips down the bloody trial he walks with a certain ease." And those around him, even if they know about his crimes do not seem very bothered by them. It is as if the world he inhabits is strangely immune from guilt. (more so in her later books).

Tom wants to be loved, he wants to fit in. If you refuse to give him what he wants then he will kill you just as easily as he will befriend you.

Patricia Highsmith has created a multi-facit villian in Ripley. I can only hope to ever achieve this type of success.

To read other choices, check out E.R. King's blog.

Killer Fiction Characters- Best Literary Supporting Character

2011-10-24T23:54:00.000-07:00

Killer Fiction Characters

Today is the first in a three part blogfest, hosted by E.R. King and Deana Barnhart.

Today we are to name a supporting character for the Killer Fiction Blogfest . October 26, list your favorite literary protagonist and the final entry on October 28, your favorite literary antagonist. There you have it, the rules. So get busy writing

My entry is on the verge of being late. I am just getting some relief from a migraine headache that I has been pretty "killer" itself. The good news is that it is going away & it is the first I have suffered in over two months ( a record for me). Is is a coincidence that it follows a slumber party weekend (not just one night) for my ten year old son's birthday? Twelve (12) ten year old boys together for an entire weekend, never a good idea.

My selection for the supporting character could just as easily be labeled the antagonist, but technically she is a supporting character so I am going with her.

She is not scary in the Halloween or Friday the 13th kind of way, but this is who first came to my mind when I first blogged about this blogfest,

Nurse Mildred Ratched:

NurseRatched is as horrifying to me today as she was in 1984, when I firstread Ken Kessey's 1962 novel, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. TheNovel's characters were based on real life individuals whom Kesey,met while working at the V.A.

Evenher name Ratched, sounding like Wretched is symbolic. She enters thenovel and the psychiatric hospital ward, “with gust of cold". NurseRatched is in complete control over every aspect of the ward, but notas much over her own emotions. In the first few pages we see her showher hideous self to Bromden and the aides, only to quickly regainher, “doll like composure” before any patient catches a glimpse.

NurseMildred Ratched uses the same flat and emotionless voice to orderpatients to take the meds or turn off the world series as she does toorder a lobotomy for McMurphy.

Whatmakes Nurse Ratched truly frightening is her ability to use her falseself to gain control over the weak. Without ever being aware of theoppression, the quiet & docile slowly become weakened &gradually are subsumed. Nurse Wratched represents to me the ability,through dishonesty to suck the life out of of another.

Looking forward to reading everyones entries. Mine will be spookier as the challenge continues...

Blogging 101. Your Readers Cannot Find You

2011-10-20T23:43:00.000-07:00

Who am I to offer blogging tips?

I am just a newbie blogger and the last person you would expect to offer blogging advice. When I am not searching the internet for writing tips I am looking for advice on how to be a better blogger.

I feel like I am going crazy. I am excited to have new followers & friends. I visited as many new blogs as I could during the pay it forward blogfest & in return many bloggers visited me. With the adrenaline pumping through my veins each time I gained a new follower or when someone new left a comment on my blog, I vowed to be a good blogger buddy and return the kindness. I was on a mission to reply to comments, visit the blogs of my new friends, read their content & leave a comment.

It started out okay. I knew that I could not possibly visit all 75 of my new friends in one day, but I would eventually visit each and every one. Then I clicked on the name of a commenter or the photo of a follower which lead me to their profile page and that is where the story ends.

Not really, but I landed on a profile page without a link to a blog. Okay, no biggie, perhaps this new follower doesn't have a blog. I am on to the next. When the next three out of five attempts ended the same way I assumed I must be doing something wrong.

So I backtracked to the bloggers I always follow to make sure I wasn't missing anything. There it was front and center on their profile page, a link to their blog. I began again. After I visited two more blogs I stumbled upon the mystery profile page again. I am pulling my hair and banging my hands on the already warped keys of my computer.

I would not be writing this if it happened only a few times, but I am so frustrated. I want to be a good and loyal blogger friend. I want to read your blog. If you visited me and befriended me and or left a comment for me, I want to read your blog. Maybe you don't want me to, but I sort of thought the idea was quid pro quo. Even if not quid pro quo, I want to at least have the option of viewing your blog.

Hey, if you have all the friends & followers that you need and you are not concerned with whether or not someone can locate you, then this does not apply. If you are like me & you welcome new friends and there is even a remote chance that your blog is not easily accessible then I hope you will take steps to make it easier to follow.

I keep worrying that many of the people who were kind enough to pay a visit to my blog are thinking, "hmm what a blogger bratty bitch she is" she didn't even bother to check out my blog."

I even googled some of you, others I just could not find. I want to find you. Please make it easier. Please link your blog to your blogger profile.

I am not the one to give advice, but I was going to try. I am truly saying this because I want to help, (and I am a little frustrated) but mostly because I think you want to know if your blog is hard to find and I bet you want to know how to fix that. Someone left a comment for me not long ago that pointed out I had more than one blog listed and that they had to search to find the correct blog. Was I embarrassed? A little, but I was even more grateful and I immediately deleted the other test blogs.

Since I am not the best person to give blogging advice, I searched until I found someone who could explain it in easy to understand terms.

Laura Barnes is a marketing consultant who critiques blogs & offers her professional advice on how to make your blog the best it can be for your intended purpose. She has an entire page devoted to blogging advice and if you are unsure about any blogging topic, she can offer useful and supportive information.

Laura B Writer has an entire section of her blog FAMP, (from a marketing perspective) that will answer any questions you may have.

Please visit her FAMP (From a Marketing Perspective) post on linking up. Laura provides easy to follow steps to ensure that your blog is linked to your blogger profile.

Because , I really do want to visit your blog, but if I cannot find it then we both lose.

Best Time To Read While You Write

2011-10-19T08:51:00.000-07:00

When Do You Write? Do you Read & Write?

I have Questions. Do you have answers?

Whoa! Is it Wednesday already? Before I say anything else, I want to welcome all my new friends & followers. I had an amazing time hopping from blog to blog last Friday and Saturday and Sunday... In fact I am still meeting new people. So a great big thank you to Matthew & Alex. Your pay it forward blogfest was a huge success.

I tried to meet as many new people as possible while also checking out the content of their blogs so I did not have a chance to meet everyone. I am going to continue going through the list but not at marathon speed. While reading such a variety of post from so many bloggers I found myself jotting down ideas and tips and also questions that I wanted to follow up on. This leads me to today's post. I have questions for other bloggers, questions that pop in and out of my mind at random times. I decided to toss out a handful of them hoping that with so many new friends I will get many new or different solutions to old questions.

Do you get up early to write or do you write late at night or somewhere in between? I am nocturnal. My husband has been calling me a vampire since way before vampires were cool. I cannot explain it and it has nothing to do with what time I get up. I just seem to get more creative as the day or night goes on. This was great while I was working during the day. I have taken time off from work to edit my manuscript and begin the query process. This should be mean more time to write and edit and revise, right? Well it is not working out that way. I can do everything else I need to do during the day like grocery shopping, banking, housekeeping, organizing & cooking etc.etc.etc.

But... When it comes to writing, my creative juices seem to be on tranquilizers until after dark. Why? I don't get it.

Do you write better a certain part of the day or night?

2. Do you read while you are writing? Of course we all read something everyday. The newspaper, work related material and the other necessities. I mean do you prefer to read the work of other authors in your genre while you are in the writing stage of your NIP?

There are two vastly different views on this issue. I love to read and not a day goes by that I don't read. Some days I find time to get engrossed in a novel and other days I am lucky to sneak a chapter or two in while I lock myself in the bathroom pretending to have, um, let's call it a stomach ache. Hey, guys do it all the time-besides it is the only real privacy in our home filled with kids.

I find that reading others authors work while I am writing keeps me revved up and inspired to continue. It also helps me recognize what I like and dislike as a reader so that I can transfer that to my writing. I read a combination of best selling authors who I admire and debut authors. Reading debut authors helps me keep in mind what publishers are looking for.

Those who oppose reading while writing have valid points as well. There is the argument that it can stifle your creativity or inadvertently lead to plagiarism. It goes without saying that reading or any activity or hobby will cut into your writing time.

What is your take on this topic? Do you enjoy reading similar material while writing your first draft or do you limit your material?

I was going to ask another question, but it is NaNoWrimo related & would make this post entirely too lengthy and I really want you to read the question(s) and provide your input. So now I have the title of tomorrows post.

So in a nutshell, when do you write and do you read & write?

The Plot Whisperer -Author Interview

2011-10-15T21:41:00.000-07:00

The Plot Whisperer By Martha Alderson

Do you remember me raving about this book? The day it arrived? You can read my short snippet here.

The Plot Whisperer-The Secrets to Story Structure any Writer Can Master, by Martha Alderson is by far they most helpful writing book I have read. She is THE BOMB, as my kids would say.

I have been meaning to write a complete review of this book ( and I still intend to), but I have been having so much fun meeting new bloggers through the pay it forward blogfest that I haven't done so. Tonight I was checking out even more blogs that I discovered through PIF and I was super excited to discover that a fellow blogger is not only planning to review this "must have-go to" book for writers, she is actually interviewing Martha Alderson. I mean, I suddenly feel like I have backstage passes to the Beatles. Okay for all you younger bloggers, let me change that, I have a date with Justin Bieber. That is how excited I am.

For those of you who do not know Charissa Weaks, she is the author of the awesome blog, A Day in the life of an Aspiring Author. Charissa is a writer who blogs about her journey to publication. She is hosting an interview and give-a-way, that every writer should visit and will benefit from.

On October 26th Charissa will post her review of Martha Alderson's writing tool found in her book, THE PLOT WHISPERER. But that's not all! OMG, did I just sound like one of those late night infomercials? That's okay. If you cannot tell, I am in absolute utter awe of this writer & I kid you not, in the short amount of time that I have owned this book I have seen my writing improve. I see the big PLOT picture in a way that has never been this clear to me. So, yes there is more.

In addition to Charissa's review of the Plot Whisperer, she will also also host a question and answer interview with author, Martha Alderson.

But wait, that's not all.....

Charissa Weaks will also give a free copy of THE PLOT WHISPERER and a $15 gift certificate to Amazon (that never expires) to one lucky winner. Believe me, you want to add this book to your bookshelf.

Charissa wants her questions to Martha to come from us, the readers. So she is asking that you leave your question in the comment section of her blog post. This will automatically enter you into the drawing. There are ways to add to your number of entries. You get more entries by tweeting about this event and putting it on FB and blogging and more. To get all of the details you need to visit her blog, and don't forget to leave your question for Martha Alderson in the comments section.

Take a sneak peak at THE PLOT WHISPERER

And while you are at it, visit Martha Alderson's blog to see exactly what this woman can show you.

Please Pass this on to every writer you know!!!

Empty White Pages: Musical Stories 15: Chick Lit

2011-10-15T19:39:00.000-07:00

Empty White Pages: Musical Stories 15: Chick Lit

Listen to these three songs with powerful messages.