You're Not A Real Writer Unless You Can Bore Nonwriters

This weekend I have discovered Downton Abbey is on Netflix instant watch. Whoo! A blogger a while back mentioned it (please forgive me, I have been wracking my brain all weekend trying to remember who. If it was you, please let me know so I can credit you.) and I have been wanting to see if since. So glad I have, too! It's addicting!

**Nancy Williams says it was Clarissa Draper and she was RIGHT!

I can't get enough of the old houses and gowns and scenery! It's breathtaking. The scandals and plots. The rules of society and the changing women's rights. Ahhh...
It's just a bunch of goodness.

And makes me miss PBS.

That has been my weekend obsession as well as reading and critiquing. Not cleaning so much...Feel pretty guilty about it but whatever. I'll live.

We moved our crit. group meeting to a night that I don't feel like I'm going to fall asleep at the skype on. Worked out pretty well, me thinks! Those gals never fail to crack me up. Also realized that, somehow, breaking a novel into pieces and discussing it for 2 hours isn't interesting to everyone! I know, right? "The Hell!" you say! I know, I know. It's a weird thing to think about but nope. It's totally true. I guess only writers appreciate a 15 minute discussion about rocks vs gems.

So that was my weekend, how about yours?

Funny Friday Makes Fun of Men. Unintentionally. Swear. But It's Funny. Dudes.

Kari Marie over @ Writing by Heart gave me The Stylish Blogger award!!! Thanks so much Kari! (And she is reading The Hollows series ((One of my favorite series EVER)) and will have to rave about it with me when she gets done!) (((duties have been paid)))




Kid tells the best story about watching a movie!



HA! Wait...


I love how she's all "and if he says he isn't coming back, I'll be all MEH whatevs. I can get me's a new man!"



I LOVE this website. It's a new find thanks to Jennie Bailey. NotAlwaysRight.com. It cracks me up. Constantly. As do PassiveAggressiveNotes.com and DamnYouAutoCorrect.com. Need a quick giggle? Just pop over and enjoy a few entries.

Happy weekend you guys! See you all Monday!

Word Verification Wednesday

 Is there a BA(bookaholics Anonymous) meeting anywhere? I think I might have a problem. First step is admittance, right? RIGHT?! Wait. Do I ever want a cure?...No. No I don't.

Book addictions are nothing to be taken lightly. My bank account is seriously showing the strain. But. I can't stop. I have bought...12 books in the past 2 weeks. And I keep browsing Amazon and GoHastings for deals!!

AND on top of that, I already have a "small"(by comparison) stack of books to read! Is there a pill? 12 step program? Support group?

SO I JUST found out that Kim Harrison's next book in The Hollow's series came out TUESDAY! How can I stop buying books now!? They don't want me to get better...

HERE is a hilarious query critique from the Evil Editor. So...so many snickers.

Happy Wednesday!

It's Disgusting, Just How I Like It

The hubs and I were watching Survivorman. If you don't know what Survivor Man is, it's a show where this one guy puts himself into dangerous landscapes for 7 days with no crews, no food, and very few supplies. As if he was put into that circumstance by some sort of freak accident.

So, we were watching where he was in a desert (which he does a few times if I'm not mistaken((different deserts))) And, I think...I'm being punished for some content in my MS. OR a lesson in how gross I actually made my novel!

It is supposed to be oogy. That's how I wrote it. So, every time someone has mentioned how dark or yuck one part or another is, I'm all "sweeeeeet". Mission accomplished!

But, Les Stroud is demonstrating how to survive in this desert. And at one point, after a day or so with no water and little food he sets up traps. And...catches...half a dozen or so SCORPIONS!

Now...Scorpions are my biggest creepiest gross-out fear. I HATE THEM. HATE. HATE. HATE. HATE.

So, naturally he eats them. BBBBBBLECH!! Crunchy, disgusting, HORRIFYING awfulness. (I tried to put up a picture of some scorpions but I couldn't...I typed it in, found the pictures, then virtually hauled ass! Nope, couldn't do it.)

The cool thing is, I totally nailed the scene without seeing it first! Whoohoo! (IMO)

Experience, I suppose.  I don't know if other people will be creeped and grossed out like I mean them to, but I think, if you can pull it off on yourself, then you have accomplished what you wanted.

Sometimes, we just have to suck it up and actually experience some things we never want to just to make it perfect for a novel. AH a writers curse! The rest of my creepy/gross content, however, I will have to just hope I got right. Maybe I need to write a book about a pudgy white girl who moves to a private island with Ryan Reynolds...OH the research I could do!

Check back in Wednesday for another round of What's That Word Verification? !

Don't forget to check out Alexia and my St. Patty's Day blogfest where there are books to be won! Just click on that crazy little guy riding a pig to find out more!

HERE is K. M. Walton's 5 Things I Wish I Knew Before Querying. GOOD stuff, for anyone about to, going to, getting ready to, wanting to query!

Lastly, thanks for everyone being so understanding about the bloggy absence a few days a week to do some writing!

Happy Monday!

F.F. Bringing You The Only Reason You Need to Exercise

So, if this doesn't motivate you to start working off those winter pounds, you're hopeless.





So, I bought the cats a bunch of crap because...well there are 5 of them against 1 and I buy them things to keep them from getting pissed and eating my face. So I spend half an hour assembling this 5'5 cat tree thing. They spend 2 minutes inspecting, 5 minutes playing, 3 minutes slapping each other just to irritate one another, and the rest of the night in the box full of bubble wrap that it came in...


Maria McKenzie @ Reading, Writing, Romance gave me the smiley award! I love that colorful thing. Thanks Maria!! (duties have been done to the award)

Quicky this week, sorry about that. But I hope you guys have a great weekend!
M

Writer Wednesday Where I Say Boob Too Much

So, I am a lady. (derp) And ladies have their favorite bras. We love the way this particular one feels, makes us look all sexy, is comfy, etc.

I have a favorite. And an older back up of the same kind. The one was being washed so I just threw on the backup old one for the day. All day my boobs felt...weird. Not internally, but something just felt off.

I'm just laying around catching up on blogs, snacking, watching t.v. on another snow day stuck inside. And I just don't feel right. I can't get comfortable because of the strange feeling with my boobs. Re-situate the bra. Nothing. Re-situate myself. Nothing.

So, I debate asking the hubs "do my boobs look okay? Normal?" and decide against it. He, being the sweet liar that he is, will tell me what he thinks I want to hear. That my boobs look great, blah blah blah. Not. Helpful. I don't ask.

As I get ready for bed, I take off my shirt. (boys, calm down...) And see it! They aren't the same! They don't look symmetrical. The one is all "HI!", the other is all "meh, hey". Turns out the washing machine or something ate the wire out of one side. Took the pep out my one step, so to speak.

This whole story about my boobs and bra has a point. When you have something in your manuscript that doesn't feel right -- you know something is wrong and you can't figure it out on your own just by going off feelings  -- who do you ask for help? Are they the kind of people that will tell you your boob is off? Or will they tell say you rock, it's perfect and let you walk around lopsided?

A gut feeling is nothing to ignore when it comes to your work. When you feel like you suck, you're probably wrong. When you feel a scene doesn't work right for some reason, you're probably right.

I want to thank my three favorite bras, Abby, Jennie, and Melissa for being the right amount of lift, support, and helping me to force my boobs(MS, just in case you are now confused) into the right shape. Thanks, you wonderful gals! Those 3 have pointed out some real boob mistakes this week!


In other news, how in this WORLD did someone come across my blog by searching : "club penguin with sexy boys and wieners on them" ?!


I might be taking a few days off a week from reading blogs to work all day on my MS revisions. I have a long way to go, and a rapidly approaching deadline.

Hopefully you will all understand that I need to take my own advice (finally) and put writing first for now. So please don't be offended if you don't see me poking around Tuesdays and Thursdays. And if you do, please tell me to get back to work.


Don't forget to sign up for my very first blogfest I'm cohosting with the lovely Alexia Chamberlynn!! Button on your top left! 

Happy Wednesday!

Just Kiss Already Blogfest

Happy Valentines Day!!

The hubs and I aren't Valentines Day people. We have tried, but it's just a day to do what you should be doing all year long--loving one another. BUT I do really enjoy the candies and the pretty red stuffs. So we usually just have a nicer than usual dinner. I asked for those chalky cheap hearts with the words on them this year too. I love those things.

And I couldn't NOT want to participate in Stina Lindenblatt and Christina Lee's Just Kiss Already Blogfest!! It was just too sweet to pass up! All you have to do is post a 250 word excerpt from your work or a book with actual kissing involved. Easy-peasy!

Hop around to check out everyone else.

"Now, finally, he has found her, and he has found his children, and there is no rush, for they have all eternity to love one another.

And she is kissing him and he is kissing her and the tears she has held back for five years, the tears that I knew could transform the moment, the tears that had to be saved for the right moment to transform, now come streaming down and drop on the face of the man whose head is cradled in the woman's arms. Zel's tears fall in Konrad's eyes, hot and salty and full of life. He blinks them in, absorbs them; they are now his own tears, and yes, he can see.

And they see each other, and yes, oh, yes, we are happy. "~Zel by Donna Jo Napoli

I could read that story a million times and still read it again, loving it's magic like it were the first. Swooooon. I HIGHLY suggest it. 

What do you have planned for today? Do you have a go to book that you could read over and over and never not love every second of it?

I hope you all have a great day!! Happy Monday!!

F.F. Where We Get To Let It All Hang Out.

Here we are again, another Friday! I hope you all had a great week. Mine was...difficult. But that is life, right? We all are here, life is good (could be worse that's for sure), and if you're like me, you need some entertainment. I hope to provide that for you!



Did you guys see this Thriller/Heads Will Roll mash-up? I LOVED it! Way to come back, Glee!
**I had the video up for you from the amazing episode of Glee that aired after the Super Bowl last Sunday. But Fox took them all down!!! It was epic, though.
***Someone put up an edited mirrored version. Hopefully it will still be up after tonight! Maybe that cancels out the copyright?


Gals, isn't that new Caleb guy(Tyler Blackburn) in Pretty Little Liars SMOKING!? Mmm.

Anyone else really really really wish Kurt and Blaine would hook up already!?!?!

What are your nerdy TV pleasures? You can tell me! Our secret!
This is the kind of fun I want to be having in snow! Not the stressful, no fun I am having!

Alright, alright. Get back to doing this, now:




Don't forget to sign up for Alexia's and my St. Patrick's Day blogfest!! Button on your left will get you there!

Happy weekend my sweet, loyal friends.

Who Rides a Pig On St. Patty' s Day?

This gal.

The lovely and talented Alexia Chamberlynn had a great idea to celebrate St. Patricks Day. As a proud, mostly Irish pastey white girl, I couldn't NOT want to be in on it!

RULES: (are very relaxed to give you all freedom) 
Write a 200ish word flash fiction entry about something to do with SPD(real, fantasy, whatever makes your pig squeal). OR, you could also write about a memory you haveof a past SPD. In the end, we aren't being picky. Just make it goooood and make it about St. Patricks Day! (Leprechauns, luck, gold, green, clovers, beer, celebrations, etc. Funny, touching, horrifying, dark, fast-paced, romantic, etc.)

On March 17th post your entry and hop around to see what else everyone has chosen to do! Let's just light up this blog place with green and gold and awesome! Show us what you got, writers!

it has been a long while since I held a contest. And lots of you already know I don't give you guys stuff for nothing. So Alexia and I decided this would be a great opportunity to give you stuff!

We will both pick our favorite piece and the 2 winners get to pick whatever 2011 new YA release of their choice!!

So sign up, write something, and have a chance to win! 




**Please forgive my absence yesterday. It was...crazy.**

Bunch of Stuff and Stuff

Back to work after a LONG snow break. Was touch and go there for a little while when the snacks ran out and the wii remote almost died. But I survived without eating a cat. Hurray!

Today is for just a few odds and ends:

Tracy at Forever Endeavor has started an online book club! The first one this month is My Soul to Take by Rachel Vincent. If you have read it already, you have a free month. If you haven't get it read by February 25th and join her discussion! Head on over for more details and just to check her out!

~
J.C. Martin, amazingly lovely writer/blogger, awarded me this award!!


The (optional) rules for accepting this award:

1. Thank the person who awarded you and link back to them. CHECK
2. Share 7 things about yourself. CHECK
3. Award 5 recently discovered great bloggers, and notify them of the nomination! CHECKISH

1. I sleep with my eyes open sometimes... Often...
2. I don't like South Park. It isn't that I don't think it's funny, because it is. I just don't care for it.
3. I would prefer to wear flip-flops year round. Or go barefooted. Damn snow...
4. I have never seen Hellraiser, though I want to. But I'm kind of bitter about it. One of my HS boyfriends used to call me Pinhead because of all my piercings. Even though at the time I had none in my face. So, I have never "gotten around" to watching it.
5. There is a constant scissor war in my house. We have at least 7 pair, but it doesn't matter.
6. I have to make the bed every night before I can get in it. It's a thing.
7. I like birds in general, watching them outdoors, feeding them seed outdoors, but I don't like owning birds.

I'd like to pass it on to these ladies who's blogs I have recently fallen in love with: 
Ellie Garrat
Ann @ Inkpots n' Quills
Jemi Fraser
Kristina Fugate
Kimberly Franklin

~
I am going through all my posts and deleting pictures that aren't mine or crediting them. It is taking a little while but I will feel better when it's done!

I was getting a lot of traffic on one particular picture that would have been cool EXCEPT it had nothing to do with writing and I was getting page views but I HIGHLY doubt any followers came from it. Because it had nothing to do with writing. Or YA. Or anything really...it was just a silly picture that people can't help but clicking on when they see it in Google images.

ANYWAY, all that to say, I'm being safe rather than sorry and deleting most pictures that aren't mine or crediting them. AND just FYI, apparently, even if the signature is in the picture of whoever it belongs to, that is not sufficient credit. I have not had any run-ins on this but people have and I'd rather not.

~
THIS article cracked me up on What If the Best Picture Nominee Posters Actually Told the Truth?

By Eric Larnick

 

 ~
HERE are 2 video tributes to the greatest fictional bands ever. THEY ARE!! (although, I thought Spinal Tap was real?) They have the weird alien guys from Star Wars that just play that one song, The Soggy Bottom Boys, Plavalaguna(Fifth Element FTW) and so many others!

~
And lastly, I have a question, how many of you all that don't get replies to your comments emailed to you come back and check to see if a blogger replied? I'm HORRIBLE at doing that! I think I have sent thousands of emails to that damn no-reply address.

So, if you all do check back in and I never answered you, I'M SORRY! But you probably have an e-mail in that no-reply box somewhere...SO, do you all check back here and I should feel like an ass? And more importantly, why don't you want replies emailed to you? Cause...it makes life easier...for me, I mean. ;)

Happy Monday!

F.F. is Just a Tad Innapropriate

"The neighbors have their latin music up really loud again."-Me. "Well we'll just have to blast the most american music out there, then."-hubs. "Skynard?"-Me. "Yea. No! Steve Miller Band."-hubs.

Don't you hate it when you're almost done with a drink, you're throwing back the last of it, and an unidentified thing slides into your mouth too quickly to catch what it is/if it is part of the drink? No? Me either...

Hate people that don't say "thank you"!!!

This is a bit old. I first saw it on Jenny B. Jones blog last year. But I just love to see that fat cat slide into that damn box!

Hilariously inappropriate!

The wonderfully kind, creative, generous, and talented Kristal Shaff created a new banner for my new look! What do you all think?! I love it! Thank you so much Kristal!!

 Who got a 6 day weekend this week? This gal? Yep. This gal.

Happy Friday! Have a great weekend!

Writery Wednesday Where You Find Me In HELL

Yes. I am in hell. 

Today, I'm sorry to remind you(myself) that this blogs' purpose was initially all about documentation and for helping others who find themselves with the same problems know they are not alone.

Now, I enjoy entertaining more than I enjoy blabbling about the same ol crap that has me down(or up) about my MS. But, quite honestly, I'm feeling guilty for abusing Abby as my go-to-email-crit-partner-bitch-buddy. (I'm the bitcher, obviously not Abby)  And now must abuse you. As it is Writery Wednesday, I want to open up about my writing a bit and where I am in the process.

I'm in the midst of revisions on a novel I don't believe in as it stands. It is hell to me. The part of hell that you only hear about happening but don't ever believe that could happen to you. I hate my novel. I have been working on it for over a year and I have this pain in my chest that is trying to make me believe that all that work was for nothing.

But I can't believe that. I have had some of the best eyes I know on it, probing it, helping to make it shine. And I know how to write, dammit. I am a good writer. I didn't start out that way and by no delusional dream do I believe that this novel is well written through and through. I know there is work to be done. And I know I can make it awesome. It just took me a while to learn how.

I'm still learning every day but, I just want to say that I'm finding my love for this story again. This time last week it was gone and I was ready to abandon ship for a new shiny idea. But, being snowed in and running out of distractions made me face my beast. And I am finding the love again.

Thanks to Writers Knowledge Base I have also found that this is a common thing among writers. We love it, we hate it, we love it, we hate it. It's a freaking WiP yo-yo. It's exhausting. And I think I could have been done with my revisions by now if I wasn't on the downer part of my yo-yo trip. But I am holding on to hope that the fire will return, my passion for this one will be reignited, and my novel will be great! Dammit...How hot is that guy? I mean, yea you can't see his face but...umm...what is the problem?  ANYWAY

So, when do you love it again?

Well, no search engine in the world could tell you that. It just happens. You find something about it you loved and realize that you still love the whole thing. You wrote it for a reason, you loved it for a reason in the first place. And the reason is still there, it never left. Your MS is loyally waiting for you to love it again, too. It's you(me) that has the problem. Not the MS.

SUBJECT CHANGE!

Yesterday I wasn't able to make my usual rounds. I do sincerely apologize to everyone!! But it was a beautiful snow day. I slept in a little, snacked a bit, revised a bit more, let the 5 kitties explore the snow(that was seriously a very short bit..they thought it was pretty evil after...5 minutes...when they realized the white fluffy was actually cold and wet), did a bunch of laundry, and changed up my hair a bit.


Tomorrow I will probably be snowed in again (my vacation days are pretty low now...) but without laundry (praying the cat doesn't piss on my bed again...thank goodness for thick blankets or he would be a homeless boy if he ruined my barely 6 month old mattress!) and hair, I can work harder on my novel and see you all!

In other news, the amazing blogger Donna Weaver @ Weaving a Tale or Two presented me among several awesomes to receive The Versatile Blogger Award! Thanks so much Donna! (duties have been done to this one.)
 
Happy Wednesday! Set a fire!