So...then

My Christmas was fun, slightly...overbearing at times, but mostly fun. My dad complained about my couch. I can't get up out of this thing. You'd think he was an old man with a cane, but the truth is he's always grumpy. So we went and bought chairs for my living room, because he needed to be able to get out of a chair. Then the next thing he complained about was my shower. Did a Midget design this thing or what? Did I mention my dad was a grumpy and blunt man? And you guessed it, the next thing I was out buying was a new shower head. Sigh. I did more rearranging/modeling around my house during the holiday stay then I did the whole week I painted the rooms in my house. But tomorrow, my house will be mostly back to order, meaning chairs will be put away. Tree will be taken down. And toys will be where they belong which is not in my living room. Phew. 

How was everyone's holiday so far? 

On to the New year. As we approach this 2013, I decided to set some goals. I will blog every Tuesday and Thursday. I will write at least three chapters a day. I will finish three novels this year. I will go on three trips. I will publish two novels one should be around February. The other at the end of the year. I'm also excited about the new things happening in Month9Books, as I take on a new role with the company. Yay! So on to the new year. 

What are some of your goals for the new year?

Well, that's nice.

Yesterday, I was almost done cleaning my house and was going to start critiquing this wonderful MS. Mother nature had different plans for me and decided to knock out my electric. (Awe...thanks.) So, I had no electric for the rest of the day and most of the night. Sigh. And now, I am catching up on the rest of my cleaning, then working on the critique. But first, I must bake cookies since SANTA thinks it's okay to eat all the cookie dough while I'm sleeping. AHHHEM!

One positive with the electric going out, I got bored and went to bed early. Which means I get up early and more time for me to finish up my to-do list YAY!

Oh so there is this wonderful thing going on Check it out: Operation Awesome

I love you but you're crazy

Do you have a crazy family? Maybe you're normal and just have one or two nutcases in your group. I wish i could say my family was like this, unfortunately there is only 5 sane people in my family the rest are nuts. So leave it to my nutty family to spring an unexpected visit on me. Dude, I don't have my x-mas shopping done. Yeah, it's been so busy over here. So when my dad is like "Oh hey, I'm coming to your house Sunday and staying until Xmas." Ummmm....okay.

My dad never visits me. I always have to go to his house. So, yes surprised is like an understatement. *Takes a breath* Now, I'm supposed to make cookies this weekend with my friends, come home on Saturday evening, and grocery shop, clean, and wrap gifts. AHHHH! Who signed me up for this???

Needless to say, I've been carrying around a clip board of all the things that must be done before tomorrow. Yeah, when I clean, I'm the weirdo with the checklist. It's the only way I get everything done. Oh, and did I mention that I have a Critique to do? And thanks to my wonderful writing friend Sheri who sent me a book, I will try reading during my vacation with children. Yes cause holidays=holiday breaks with not only your kids but the neighbors and sleepovers and popcorn wars. which means more cleaning. I'm also outlining a new wip, not to brag or anything but it's a pretty good one. Here's a sample of it:

Chapter 1

While I study the raindrops trickle down and spider off into another direction, a dark carriage replaces the grayish green background behind the liquid dotting the glass. My tired, achy body pulls away from my desk and moves toward the front door.

     Inhaling deeply, my callused fingers grip the metal handle, turning to open my home to the visitor. Blanched knuckles drop, while a black hat tips and water pours off the brim, landing on my rug. “Evening, Jackie. May I come in?”

     I move slightly and let the handsome knight enter. “I haven’t been home for more than an hour.” I eye him as his smile turns to a frown. “Try not to get everything all wet and slopped with mud.”

     He shrugs off his coat and hat while I shut the door. Cocking his head toward the fireplace he laughs, “No fire?”

     “What’s the point, Lance? As soon as I return home, the king sends one of his finest to order me right back into battle.” It comes off a little bitter, but it’s the truth. I barely have time to wash away the blood off my clothes and they show up, carriage and all, to drag me off to another assignment.

     Lance looks back and smiles. “Guess you shouldn’t have planted those beans.”

     My grueling mistake is a joke to everyone in Beantown, everyone but me. Damn that peddler and his beans. They wrote a tale about it, but they made the hero a guy not a girl. I guess normal girls would scream and run from a Giant, instead of kill it.

     Lance hangs his coat and hat on the hook near the door. A small sack jingles from his belt while a sword mirrors the opposing side. His leather boots stomp across the wooden floor toward me. His broad shoulders and dazzling hazel eyes have me mesmerized for a moment. I clear my throat, “So, did you come to collect the head?”

     With a sigh, he takes a seat at my kitchen table made for two and tosses a bag full of coins down. I eye the gold spilling from the top and then glance back at Lance. He runs a hand through his long brown locks and breaks the awkward silence forming between us. “There’s your cut.”

     As many times as Lance has been coming to my door, dropping off sacks of money he’s never sat down at my table. He’s never tossed down a bag and had the current look he’s giving me---lips are set in a frown, eyes puckering. “What’s wrong?”

     “Nothing.” He smiles.

     “Something is troubling you. You look like a dog died.”

     He shakes his head. “No dogs died today. You just…you had me worried, Jack. It’s been a month and it usually takes you two weeks to slay a Giant. I thought…never mind.”

     He thought I was dead. A week ago, I thought I was too. This Giant was by far the hardest one I’d ever had to put down. At one point, the beast caught me, shook me, then tried to squeeze the life out of me. But that’s where the monster failed, for I stuck my sword right through his Adam apple. Blood sprayed, and it gurgled on its own life source seeping out of him like a long flowing red river. Eventually the Giant fell to its knees and I ripped my sword out and then finished the job by chopping off his head. 

*****

For the blog, Sorry I haven't posted often. Will be posting more in the start of January :) Happy Holidays everyone.

Check up :/ with a side of awkward!

Do you know why I loathe going to doctors offices? It's not just the fact I think I'm going to catch someone's cold, or the odd feeling that comes over me while being in there. Or the stares of discomfort, that make you have a case of the willies. No, it's the people that freak me out in general.

It's not that I'm anti-social but if you're a complete stranger that 9/10 chances I'm never seeing again, I'm not going to tun into a chatterbox and tell you my life's story. No. I'm going to keep to myself, and play scrabble on my phone or angry birds until they call my name. That's how I am.

So why is it I always end up sitting near or next to a chatty cathy that won't stop talking? I don't know but it's my curse. And yes, the woman I'm about to tell you all about is one of them. Going in for my annual check-up take a seat which is available. No one is around me. Then in walks this woman. She's middle aged, gray hairs slightly showing against her browns. Now she could have sat next to an elderly man, or next to cheap cigar smelling dude, but no she sits right beside me. Next thing I know she starts talking. rambling on and on about why she's there, how nervous she was, and she hoped everything was fine and they could take care of her peeing problems.

I don't know who she's telling this stuff too, hell, I don't even know this woman's name. I assumed she was talking openly to the receptionist. I didn't know she was talking to me until she gets all quiet and then asks, "So what are you in for?" Like we were cell mates in prison. I lift my head up and notice old man is reading a paper and cigar smelling dude is playing with his video game, and a new mother is sitting beside her that I must of missed come in cause I was busy playing scrabble.


Instead of answering this woman, I pretend I was deaf, and all into my game. Judge me. I'm pretty certain she did. Especially when the nurse called my name to come back. Hey, I can't help it she thought we were sitting around a campfire and she mistook the whole "Tis the season for sharing" literally.

However, this woman is an excellent form of a nosey neighbor, which I don't actually have where I live. In fact the only neighbor I have that's slightly odd or annoying is the one who thinks he's the next Dave Letterman. When I moved in, Dude across the street said, "Do you know what the newbie's on the block have to do?" I shook my head thinking there was some sort of crazy neighborhood meeting or something. He answers, "You gotta return all the neighbors trash cans to their house." I rolled my eyes and said, "Yeah good luck with that!" and walked back to my house with my own trash cans.

In my lastest wip, I have a nosey neighbor and that crazy woman in the waiting room actually helped flesh out my character a little more.

Mood Matchers

Remember Mood Rings? Whatever the color was that was apparently your mood? Your story, your characters are individual Mood Rings. Emotion is important for a reader to become compelled, and want to keep turning the pages. 

Emotion: what is it?

Dictionary: Any agitation of mind; feeling

Writing: Characters feeling. Reactions toward the situation.

Where a writer trips up on expressing emotion: They tell it instead of show it.

Show me fears: Shakes, racing heart, panic, sweat, chewing of lips, biting nails.

Show me sadness: twisted stomach, hard sobs, tears, aching eye sockets, loss of appetite.

These are some of the examples. Make your story strong by expressing the emotion. So what kind of examples can you give that shows emotion?

All Ribbons and Bows

Sometimes things might seem great. Might even seem completely awesome. Like writing your first chapter. You read it over and think, "Yeah this is totally the one!" But then after you finish the entire Manuscript of course, your CP's have a whole other opinion about it. And yes, they tore it to shreds.

Now, you may cry. You may even get mad. You may even email them or say things to others like "Can you believe this???" Well, yes. Yes I can believe it. In some instances (Rare) instances your CP might actually be a half bubble off. In others though, they are telling you good things.

Whenever I get a MS back that I sent to Cp's first I read all the comments. I close the window, once I'm finished, and a day or two later I re-look the notes over. Why? Why not just hack away and fix? Because sometimes taking advice from others requires a certain finesse. Now when I reopen these notes, I might not agree with everything. Point is I must have a clear goal, with three questions and answers.

 What's the questions: Will this change make this better?, Is this information necessary?, Can this be moved without changing the story or confusing the reader?

If the first is a YES, change whatever CP suggested. The second is a NO don't remove that from your story. The third and final is a YES then try to find a place for it.

We learn something new everyday. Recently I learned how to make my beginnings better, and make a reader care about the character. :)

Recently what have you learned? When you get editorial notes back how do you handle them?

Reading and applying

I recently entered a contest and won. The prize I won was a copy of Les Edgerton's HOOKED. Have any of you read this? If you haven't it's fantastic. If you're a serious writer or at least want to be, but are having trouble keeping agents from requesting more than a partial from you, then this is the book for you. It's all about how to hook a reader from the first page and keeping them interested. Seriously, go put this on your wishlist for the Holiday's. You won't regret it.

The thing I love about improvement books, is you can gain so much knowledge from them. But the thing some people might dislike about them is that they have no idea how to apply what they may have learned. Sometimes this can be difficult.

For instance: In HOOKED, I learned that agents and editors have a check list. Things they look for within those first pages that will either make them say, nope, stop reading and go on to the next pile, or continue reading. Well, what are some of these things? If you start off with dialogue and continue without any kind of direction to the story then they might stop reading after the first chapter. If you flood your first chapter with massive amounts of back story you might as well shoot yourself in the foot.

This book helps you see how to overcome these silly mistakes. YAY!

So what's in books that usually hook's you?

For me: I love a strong voice, and the occasional love interest, however make me laugh and I'm usually sold.

Oh my!

'Tis the season. For sharing and giving and all that fun holiday stuff. YALITCHAT is celebrating it's third birthday, and in doing so is holding an AWESOME contest: Agent for the holidays! What?

It's an awesome way to pitch to agents. So what are you waiting for??? You want an agent well, here's a chance to get one. Click on this YALITCHAT HOLIDAY CONTEST Don't write YA??? No problem, this contest is for everything: YA, MG, NEW ADULT, ADULT....

Good Luck!

5 days in

For those of you in NaNoWriMo, it's your fifth day. How are you doing so far?

In NaNoWriMo, it's good practice for finishing a novel. Those of us who mastered this, it's good time management skills. Those who've mastered that, it's a fantastic time learn how to follow an outline. This is difficult for me. I've just started outlining last year. Why is it difficult to follow? Because my characters take a hold of my mind and then my story goes off in whatever direction they take it.

Now, even if you aren't in NaNoWriMo, you can do little things to improve your writing. Make a simple goal, ex: I plan on writing 12k words by the end of this month. Hit it, or strive past it. But make small reachable goals. Once you do this a few times make them a little harder.

I plan on conducting my personal best by writing EVERY day. That's my goal. It could be anything too, from outlining, which I've done for Rival Love since Spoken is finished and out with publishers. Yay! And waiting...well that's never fun, so I must keep my mind occupied. And while I clean, write, and think about thanksgiving I'm reaching my goal everyday.


Hows your writing coming along? Does your characters change the direction of your story? What do you do when this happens?

NaNoWriMo

Oh it's that time of year again! National Novel Writing Month!

Writers come together spilling their words, ideas, and race to finish a novel. 30 days, 50,000 words Are you game?

I've never entered this contest before. Most of my other writing friends have and say it's a boat load of fun. Have any of you participated in NaNoWriMo? Well here's your chance: http://www.nanowrimo.org/ So gear up, get that brain a spinning and lets write a novel this November.

Happy writing

MADNESS

So now begins the painful thing I like to call waiting. AGGGGGH!

Kidding. No, really I mean it. Don't wait, use this time to write. Clean. Do whatever. 

Did I always do this? Um, no. Past me, old me had no patience. This didn't mean I bugged or emailed each agent/publisher that had my work a million times a day. Nope, I just did things to make myself a little batty, like checked my email. Refreshed the page a thousand times. Played the Oh god, did they get it? Wonder if they got it? Shit I probably sent it wrong. Oh man, did I send it wrong? 

So, how the heck did I stop myself from going completely wacko? Easy, I got busy. I outlined. Wrote. Cleaned. Organized. Seriously, those days when you say, "I can't find shit in this place!" this is your time to make it more accessible. 

So how do you keep your waiting madness at bay?

Page 295

I am on page 295 of my reading...my MS is 320 pages. Soooo close to being done. Phew.

Final read is coming out well. Yay.

Enough about my edits though let's talk about something else. I'd like to talk about Stonewalling.

No one, I mean no one should start stonewalling.

Some of us will eventually do this though. There will come a time you'll believe you know everything. You'll refuse to listen to the advice given to you. Why? Because this person either sounds crazy, is an unagented writer, or has no publishing experience whatsoever. Now, granted I'm not saying follow everyone's advice. I'm saying listen, then judge.

A stonewaller will stop listening and pull a deaf ear on anything that isn't what they want to hear. What's this person know anyways? Well, this person might not have a good writing career for themselves just yet, but they are still thirsty for knowledge. They read lots and lots of books. They know what's working and what isn't. Point is, you can't stonewall, if you do you're hurting yourself in the end.

Happy writing

New look

Did you notice? Oh yes, I went all crazy and changed the blog. I've been posting not as much as usual because I've been busy revising my novel called Spoken. I've gotten two partial requests and they turned into fulls YAY!

A common mistake for writers when they finally get requests for materials is this: They send it as soon as they can. Don't rush. They've already requested it, which means they haven't forgotten about you. Take your time and reread your MS. Once you did this, go ahead and get all the material they've asked for together. Double, even triple check all the items before you send anything out.

Happy Writing

Change...it's an ok thing

Writing changes you. Not only do you see the world differently, but you notice things. Weather... Now you can describe it in a bone chilling, vivid way where everyone can get it. People... the description is detailed to the point anyone can find this person. 

Our writing styles change too. We learn not to double space after a period. We learn the correct way you use quotations. 

"I hate that 'said' bastard!" and He give me the "Shut up, please!" look. 

So what have you learned lately?

Winner!!!

Okay to the Winner for Sheri's contest, I mailed out your prize today. You got some extra goodies, because I'm nice and that's how I roll. Weee. So huge congrats to Jennifer Coffill Peters in winning my prize!


In other news, I'm re-reading the rest of Spoken and making sure it's completely flawless, why? Well, besides the face I want my MS to be in the best Shape possible, but I also started resubmitting my work again. It is being sent to the Subs panel at one of my writing sites I belong to: YALITCHAT.ORG and I'm freaking out wit excitement of course. 

So as I re-read I'm going to be looking for the obvious things, grammar, correct punc, correct spelling or use of words along with plot holes and voices. And since I'm in such a giving mood here is some knowledge for you.

Commas, commas...Blah how you are my enemy. Can you tell I hate commas?

Use commas to separate independent clauses when they are joined by a coordinating conjunction (and, but, for, or, nor, so, yet). A comma splice is when two separate sentences are joined by a comma without a conjunction. A comma splice is incorrect. Another way to correct the comma splice is to use a semicolon to connect the two clauses without using a conjunction. 

Examples that are all correct:

This manuscript is excellent, but it still needs to be edited. 

Our first title releases soon, and I am so excited.

Our first title releases soon; I am so excited.

Our first title releases soon. I am so excited.

Serial Comma - Use commas to separate words and groups of words with a series of three or more.

Examples:

This book has awesome dialogue, plot, and characterization.

This next one is a big one that we need to pay close attention to. Use a comma to separate two or more coordinate adjectives that describe the same noun. Be careful not to add a comma before the final adjective and the noun or between non-coordinate adjectives. Here's a helpful hint: if the word and can be inserted between the two adjectives, use a comma. If you can swap the adjectives around and they still make sense, use a comma. A coordinate adjective separately modifies the noun that follows it. Cumulative adjectives do not modify the noun that directly follows it. 

Examples:

This is a strong, funny manuscript.

He wrapped me in an amazing power hug. - You do not use a comma here because they are non-coordinate, and you can't say, "He wrapped me in an amazing and power hug."

Comma to separate essential phrases and clauses:

An essential phrase or clause is used to modify the noun. It also adds critical information to the sentence. We do not set essential phrases or clauses off with commas. 

Example:

The people who work for Month9Books are awesome.

A nonessential phrase or clause adds extra information to the sentence. The phrase or clause can be eliminated without changing the meaning of the sentence. We always set nonessential phrases or clauses off with commas.

Example:

Month9Books, an awesome press, has several titles coming out next year. - Month9Books is named, so the description is nonessential.

oh crazy people

I don't know if any of you have been updated with the writing world or not, but an agent Pam Van Hylckama was attacked by a person who submitted to her, and received a rejection. This person apparently stalked her through her tweets. Then Attacked her outside her kids school. WTF loony! Thank goodness herself and her family is okay.

Yes world, this is an absolute without a doubt NO NO! You can't go around smacking people around or stalking them because you're pissed they said no. Do you know how many people said no to me? 100 + but I'm not turning around lurking on their every move and then planning to attack them. You need to get some thick skin, if you don't have it you should't be in this business or in the film industry or any form of industry where you need to be approved by someone.

If you get so many rejections you can't take it, post it on Amazon. What will it hurt? Nothing. You keep your sanity for the most part, and you won't be in lock up for attacking people.

Okay, we've all been there. Rejection letters come. No one is seeing your wonderful work. No one is understanding, a thing. Your CP's all love it. (hopefully those Cp's aren't family and friends because guess what? They'll lie) Get some real feedback from strangers who will eventually, become friends who won't feed you crap or tell you what you want to hear not what you need to hear. How do you find these people? Writing sites Yalitchat.org is one. Querytracker.com is another. Agentquery.com is another. Become a stalker of knowledge, not of bullying someone into getting what you want. It won't happen.


Happy writing.

My Work_and_Your Work

Working for a publisher has not only been a fantastic learning experience, but it's also let me see the inner parts of this so called....book extravaganza!

Now, as an author myself it's so hard to put yourself out there. It's terrible to file through the rejections and getting told No after No. Hoping someone will just finally understand. They'll see the Brilliance in this novel. They'll see the Genius part of what you are trying to display to the world. Why can't they see it?

1. Your concept might be brilliant, it might even be so fantastic everyone should want it, but it's being done or has been done by 25 different authors before you. It's unique but not unique enough. (Hey it happens)

2. Your work has some flaws that you fail to see as flaws. Timeline's off. Maybe an element or two contradict what you're trying to say. Whatever it may be, they may be little and easily fixable but if these flaws start popping up anywhere in the first 30 to 75 pages. Trust me, someone is seeing it and marking it.

3. NEVER ASSUME that just because most of your Cp's skim read, that all editors do. They don't. So, Proof Read! Proof Read! PROOF READ! (Line for Line) It might take you a week, but would you rather spend a week making sure you have all the right words then sending it and getting it rejected for sheer laziness? (Remember, even though you didn't promise it was perfect, you submitting it means you are making that promise. If it isn't well, you just broke that promise.)


These are just some of the things that might be holding you back. I read MS's daily, and for me:

Characters must sound like themselves- meaning: If it's a boy's voice Please for the love of it make it sound like a boy speaking not a chick. If it's a chick- make her sound like a chick not a dude. Yes, there is tomboy's but guess what? THEY STILL SOUND LIKE CHICKS! They have emotional barrier issues. They still have crushes. Use it. Also- If it's a teen voice in Present day, Then you need to write it as such and not as someone from the 70's. Study them. Their crazy  language and slang.
Adults- make them sound like an adult not like a young hipster straight out of high school. Don't make them too sophisticated and then dull them down. It's one or the other.
Middle grade- They aren't childish babies in kindergarten but they aren't young adults yet. You've got a happy medium. Think of it as the awkward stage between kid to teen.


Settings- Is it something I can see? Want to be? Don't flood me with descriptions but give me something.

Would I want to read more? The first chapter is probably the biggest key, because you have to hook me. If your concept is awesome, cool, but I don't read that. I'm reading your chapters so, I'm walking in blind. HOOK ME! Don't give me a chapter that leads me to no where. Don't give me a chapter that leaves me confused. I want to care about what's happening, I want to know a little of what's going on, and I want to be left with a want of oh man, I need to read more.

Never be afraid of your opening.
and now... Here is an awesome CONTEST

Celebrating Sheri Larsen!!!

Sheri Larsen is an awesome writer friend and Critic Partner of mine. She's has fantastic news, so what is it? She just signed with Paula Munier of Talcott Notch Literary! Wahoo! To Celebrate this wonderful news we're having a KICK ASS giveaway.

Because there is so many authors who are excited as I am about Sheri's news, she's have this cool BIGGER-THAN-EVER-SHOPPING-MALL GIVEAWAY!!! 

*RAFFLE #1 

*RAFFLE #2

*GRAND GIVEAWAY


You may enter Both if you want. There's only one mandatory entry. Everything else is up to you! I know Rafflecopters can be such a pain, but it was the only way to organize this super fun, huge ass giveaway. The giveaway is open until September 27th. WINNERS will be announced on September 28th.

Thank you so much for entering, spreading the word, and celebrating Sheri Larsen!

List of Rocking Participants: Lenny Lee, Colene Murphy, LM Preston, Darby Karchut, Joanne Brothwell, Patti Larsen, Christine Fonseca, Catherine Stine, Jessica Bell, Kelly Hashway, Leigh Moore, Christine Danek, Alex Cavanaugh, Katie Mills, Matthew MacNish, Beverly McClure, Marcy Hatch, Roza Million, Nicole Zoltack, Christina Lee, Kris Yankee, JL Spelbring, Sharon Mayhew,Candice Granger, Dianne Salerni, Lisa & Laura Roecker, Elana Johnson, Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi, Susan Kaye Quinn,Lydia Kang, Julie Musil, Natalie Agurrie, Talli Roland, Medeia Sharif, Kelly Polark, Angela Brown, Sarah Fine, Stina Lindenblatt,Lynda Young, Susan Fields, PK Hrezo, Shannon O'Donnell, Shelli Johannes-Wells, Theresa Brown Milstein.

 

There are somethings you need to tell yourself

Dear Teenage Self,

There is a lot of things that I should tell you. There is a lot of things I won't, because mistakes are how you grow. However, when you're going to your college orientation could you not answer the girl sitting beside you who asks, "What's the guy's name that's on stage?" Cause mildly attractive guy will try to embarrass you by saying: "Um no my zipper isn't down that's just how these shorts are made. Yeah I can read lips."

Actually could you not correct him: "Well, if you could read lips so well then you'd know I said I think his name is Mitch. But it's all cool you think I'm checking out your zipper area." Cause there will be a time when you have to take an important test and you will be two minutes late because your professor decided to talk OVER his time frame which will make you have to run across campus in a full sprint. But it will be for nothing because you're two minutes late. Well, it will be for nothing, since guy from stage remembers you. He says, "Um that test just closed." And you know that he could have easily helped u and he knows it too cause it's written all over his smug face like, "Ha" pay back is such a bitch.

So, you will end up with a big fat zero for this test. Then your teacher will give you a load of make up work which you will end up doing on a bus going to Washington and you will lose most of your work when your crazy ass speech coach pulls an illegal U turn in the middle of oncoming traffic. Person sitting with you will Freak out, making you freak out and in the middle of this books will drop and papers will scatter. You'll get a C- on the paper.

I should be writing, so why am I...

I am supposed to be writing. However, there is some projects around the house that I've put on hold because of my writing. Sooooo, I'm actually doing some of them, this week.

First, happens to be Child's bedroom. Now, I'm not one for Pinks and Purple's but my child is so I compromised and did it. So her room is going to have a light purple and frosty pink walls. Yay! Now, I got done with the second coat on the one purple wall, and as I was stepping off my ladder Tragedy strikes. My butt bumped into my daughter's dresser mirror thing  and it starts to wobble. Next thing I know the thing is crashing, sending stuff everywhere and then breaking. Ooops. So I'm down to three walls complete, and one wall needing to be redone. Nice.

This is my break time by the way. Hooray!

As for my revisions, I'm still ahead of schedule. I have at least four more days until I have to get completely motivated again and back into my writing. Until then, remolding mode is in. ;)

Oh yeah!

I love my BEST FRIEND! I ain't gonna lie he's so awesome! Anyways, our relationship is kind of long, and at times a little dangerous cause he makes me mad. Sometimes. He's mostly right, on a lot of things and as we all know it's never fun to be wrong, is it? So today when he messages me:

"So I have some thing to tell you and it's kind of painful."

First reaction- Oh my God he's dying of something! But I never let on that I'm like freaking out so my response: "Oh, okay...what is it?"

"You were right."

my reaction- Huh? What's painful about that? Oh...Duh. He's always right and this is hard to admit fault HAHAHA.

"Oh. What about?" (Totally gloating)

"Carolina Breather. I saw them, and you know how I said Meh on the song. Well it turns out I was wrong it was Awesome. So... you were right."

-Love ya Man!-

So I kind of want to explore this, and ask when is a writer wrong?

**A scene isn't working for the reader**
You want to argue call them every name in the book and then some, but maybe the reader has a point. Read the scene. Not as a writer but as un-bias as possible. It's super hard I know but just try. How is it coming across? What do you think the reader is trying to tell you? Is the character's actions changing? Did you give any kind of hint for the change? Is the language off? It can be a million different things, but try to figure it out. Highlight it and come back to it. 

I had a similar situation, people weren't in love with my characters at first the story was rushed and I was blind to it. It happens. It happens to everyone. Point is when you notice it, you can make the mend or keep ignoring. Simple as that. 

So go on give me some other examples when you feel a writer might be wrong?

Happy Writing

New Player

I got a new list of songs up. Hope you enjoy the playlist. I am working through a slew of edits. Here is a sample of the Spoken...

Enjoy:

I wake to the kiss of a blade against my throat. My heartbeat roars in my ears, while panic courses through my veins. I know, I should scream, but fear constricts my voice. The mattress will not let my body sink any lower.

     Sweat beads across my forehead as Greyson says in a ragged voice, “I…I’m sorry, Princess Calla. It’s me or you.”

      I blink, and a lonely tear slips down my cheek. I tremble beneath the weight of his azure gaze. This can’t be happening. Just yesterday, those eyes had crinkled with laughter when I’d crossed my eyes and stuck my tongue out at dinner while Devon’s parents were talking about their latest renovations. “Greyson, please . . .”

     The steel bites into my throat, and I choke back a sob as hot liquid trickles down my neck. There’s nothing I can do, but wait for the inevitable. My breath hitches. Any second, Greyson will kill me. This is it.

     He squeezes his eyes shut. The blade trembles against my skin, and I don’t dare interrupt whatever thoughts are keeping him from slicing my throat. But I can’t stop the tears continuing to spill. Please don’t let him do this.  

CLEANED and CLEARED

I cleaned and cleared all my blog posts.

Why?

Because this place needs a fresh start and well, a new change.

So, here's to a new fresh blog. Ready...good.

I am currently revising. What am I revising? Well, there are as you know a few stages of revising. Some is simple polishing such as cleaning the grammar, and commas all in place. There is the other making sure plot holes are all sewed up, and flow together. Then there is my personal favorites: Voice. Voices need to be sharp and all their own.

That's what I am working on: Voice. Yay! making each one it's own unique voice. Alright I am off to revising have a great weekend bloggers.