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Saturday, December 29, 2012

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?

Saturday, December 22, 2012

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

Thursday, December 20, 2012

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.

Saturday, December 8, 2012

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.





Thursday, December 6, 2012

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?