Define that word

I have so much fun with word verification, as I have surely mentioned a jillion times. And, because I want to share my love with you, and hopefully SHOW you why I have fun with the annoying little buggers, I made a game.

Game is, simple enough: Define That Absurd Word!

Yea, it sucks having to decipher some of them. Yea it's a b**** when you don't see the word verification in time and close the window, thinking you have just commented, just as it pops up to taunt you.

But when they cooperate, it's just a little bit of fun to think of what the crap that word would ever mean. It's stupid, it's pointless, but isn't it nice to be easily amused?

***

A thanks to Abby Minard, my amazing crit partner, for the Bee elle oh gee award! It made my day to know I could make someone smile! And then to get the proof to show off like it was diamonds was pretty killer too! Thanks Abby!

Passing it on to:
Katrina L. Lantz
Erica and Christy
Jennie Bailey
Shannon Whitney Messenger

Okay, another award!! WHOOTTTT!! This one comes from Katrina L. Lantz!!!!  Who is just a big bucket of awesome ALL THE TIME. Thank you Katrina!!

With this one I give you 7 things you didn't know about me(I hope): 1. my hubs got his hair cut Tuesday AND shaved down his beard from mountain man to distinguished business man without me knowing he was going to. I get home and seriously, no shittin', had a weird moment where I felt like I was cheating on my husband by kissing this sexy sexy man in my bedroom. Had to wonder if I had gotten in a serious accident on my way home and kissing a sexy stranger was going to be comma dream.

2. I HATE dark chocolate. HATE HATE HATE. Until I found Brookside Dark Chocolate Pomegranate. NOM! (but still hate DC)

3. Can't live without a throw on my couch. My mom told me recently that it is just expected of me to have a blanket wrapped around me. At the time I was on the couch. Wrapped in a Jack Sparrow-faced throw. It's just as good as it sounds, to be wrapped in a blanket with Johnny Depps face.

4. Just found out I had have 3 coats in the back seat of my car. That have been there since last year. I was going to bring them in but...who am I kidding, they will just end up back there in no time. I'm really just saving myself some work, bringing them back out.

5. "There's nothing sexier than a bread winner"(King of the Hill shout out!) is something ever man should know. And, whats more, UNDERSTAND.

6. I miss raising litters of kittens much more than I hated waking up ever 2 hours to bottle feed them. (cat sanctuary in my future where I can educate people on cat matters, home strays and unwanted, and save lil kitty lives!)

7. I have NEVER eaten Ben and Jerry's *sigh* It's just never come up.

Tada! Things about me!

This one goes to:
Jules Ausborn
W.B. @ Voltaire
Abby Minard
B.E. Sanderson

HERE is a repost by Rachelle Gardner that I liked about how to not get an agent.

HERE is a post by Shannon Whitney Messenger that seriously made me want to climb through the computer, surf the web, pop out on her side, and give her a hug. I thought I understood querying. And I did get the formula and the layout. But what I have been struggling with is my own hook and HOW to do it right.

Welp, my friends, she answered it for me!! Couldn't have been more thrilled to have that "AHA!" moment! Definitely good timing. I know so many of you are querying too this year, like me, and could use it. (you see why she needs an award!?)

Happy Wednesday!

Weiners Weiners, Chicken Dienners!

Firstly, I want to thank every one of you (and hopefully I have individually by now...I hope...*runs to check really quickly*) The turn out for a writer calling to other writers for their help was mind-blowing to me! Thank you all so much. And it helped tremendously!

I have decided to mix and match ideas. Do a few chapters in 1st and see what I like. Add more perspective into my MC in 3rd and see how that goes. And honestly, stupidly, I hadn't thought of doing that. I was all ready to do one or the other. Sometimes I can be very dense. Derp. Of course I can do both. IT'S MY NOVEL. *facepalm* So thank you all for making me realize I was being too narrow minded about it. And for all the time you all took to read and comment and think for me where I was not.

Now. We have business to do, right?

Funny Friday again! And I have 3 winners for my gift cards. So if you see your name, shoot me an email: ce . murphy at yahoo dot com. Include your info and where you want your gift card to be for. If you are not in the states I will need a little more info. But will get to that when it comes!

Here we go!!

3rd place, $10.00 Gift card to a book selling establishment goes tooooooo: LISA  GALEK!!

2nd place, $15.00 Gift card to a book selling establishment goes toooooo: DONEA LEE!!

1st place, $25.00 Gift card to a book selling establishment goes tooooooo: LIZ!!

Congrats you guys! And, yes. I did hand write and cut AND fold each piece of paper into relatively the same sizes (to compensate for longer names. My hubs things I'm insane. He had no idea wth I was doing. Still didn't tell him come to think of it. Ah well.) You were selected out of my special, winter, sexy pirate man couch blanket.

Such a great turn out for this contest! Loved it! Some really incredibly funny ideas. You guys are good at bad ideas. I take that to mean you're even greater at good ones! Some of them actually sounded like funny novel ideas...I mean...*steal*

Lisa, Donea, and Liz please email me your info, where you want it to and how to get it to you.

This has been blowing up the internet for days but I couldn't not pass it along just in case someone hasn't seen it yet.


Literal Music Videos!

If this isn't funny, I don't know what is!

Yep. That WAS Urkel.

To keep it short, those are the only videos I have today. As much as I want to keep you all here all day long, I wont be selfish.

HERE Natalie Whipple will break your writer heart. I only know her of now because of this entry. And I think the whole blogging writer community has come out to give her a pat and a hug and support. It's beautiful. And crushing. But hopeful, for her. We all need to hope for Natalie Whipple. 

HERE is a guest blog post on Rachelle Gardner's blog by Mary DeMuth that I really really enjoyed. It's about doing what works for you in the writing world.

Happy weekend! I have already had a great start to mine and can only hope and wish for yours to be amazing as well!

Libraries, Laptops, and other scary things.

Hey, guess what rancid banana smacked me in the face today... C.E. Murphy (my recently chosen pen name) is already an Alaskan fantasy author. *facepalmx10* Suckage. So, for heaven-sakes, just call me Colene then.

I'm having a small identity crisis because of this. Do I post my pen last name? Do I just got by Colene for now on my blog? Is it more professional to use both names on a blog? Does it really matter right now?  Ugh. Could be worse I suppose.

Something awesome is a Random House Writing Contest for YA that could win you a publishing deal. Deadline is in late December, so check that stuff out quickly! Almost didn't want to mention it risk spreading the word any farther!

In my town, our library is amazing! It has a coffee shop, an excellent internet lounge-y area, lots of rooms for private study/reading, a HUGE audio section, massive genealogy section(don't ask why I love this section of records and the long gone but I do), tons and tons and tons of books that make the whole building smell like heaven, its own several story parking garage, and a million stairs! It's YA section is a tad small, disappointingly enough, but being in the center of a university, I'll forgive them of that. I likes to buy my YA anyway :)

Something someone told me when I started writing was good, no, GREAT advice from Stephen King: "Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule."

I take it to heart. Even if I do use the thesaurus, its usually to find a word I can't remember. My brain likes to have a lot of brain-farts when I'm writing and I can't recall a simple word everyone knows. Like "parking garage" up there, I had to ask the hubs what those "big car lot thingys that are everywhere down town that you drive up the ramps to park in" were. I got an "is she serious?" look. Oh well. Anyway:

Am I a walking spelling-bee-bot? Heck no. Do I know super smart words? Obviously not, being the gal that makes up words on a daily basis (usually ending in -y). But, whatever, that's who I am, that's my own voice. And if you can talk like an almighty smarty pants, more power to you. And your writing will be more natural and easier than mine will if I try to sound like one.

Embrace you. That's my advice. And the smartest thing I have been told and the smartest advice I could ever pass on. One day I'll be an AUTHOR and maybe people will take my advice seriously. Hopefully by then I'll have more worth passing on than just the one bit. I mean, besides: "close your mouth when you use hairspray" but that's good advice too.

Other great Stephen Kingy advice can be found HERE.

Laptop and I aren't in a great place lately. Maybe cause I haven't chosen a better name than "Laptop"?

Laptop refused to let me log into Windows the other day. I have my eye on him. I almost screamed when he kept telling me I was typing in the wrong password. Which, I swear I wasn't. All I could think was "I haven't backed ANYTHING up on my memory card thingy(see. wth is that thing called!?) in a month!" Two new book ideas. A months worth of edits. ALL GONE! ...*stink eyes Laptop*


OH! No, that is the best advice I can offer anyone. Back Up Yo Sh*t.

Luckily Laptop has been behaving since then.

HERE you'll find what all the most highly paid authors have in common. Interesting stuff there.

HERE are 5 questions every book proposal must answer.

HERE are 11 Questions  for crafting your pitch by Rachelle Gardner(Literary Agent)


Don't Forget to get an entry into my Freedom Contest going on right now and win your own copy of SPEAK HERE!

See ya!