100th Post!

Well, that pretty much sums up the theme of this post!

 And now for some awards...

Many thanks to Jarmara at A Mission Impossible for the Nightwriter and Bridget at J.B. Chicoine-Aspiring Novelist for passing the One Lovely Blog Award on to me. The award doesn't come with a lot of rules; other than to pass it along to fifteen other bloggers. 

Thanks also to Bridget at J.B. Chicoine-Unsupervised & at Large and Scott at 275 Words for passing the Happy 101 along to me. The rules are, tell ten things that make you happy and pass the award on to ten other bloggers. 

A big thanks to everyone for stopping by to help me celebrate my 100th post. You've all helped to make my blogging journey an enjoyable and educational one, and to show my appreciation, I'm going to pass both awards along to each of you. Come on don't be shy, grab your lovely awards and share my happy!

Adventures of an Anobium Pertinax

I've read some great books during the month of January and, breaking a little away from my no review tradition, I'm adding a few comments under the guise of the little anobium pertinax. (bookworm!)  

The Transformation   By Catherine Chidgey more here

I love the cover art on this one! It took me two tries to get into the story, but Chidgey is a gifted writer, and once hooked I had to find out how it ended. Um, the review promises an "electrifying conclusion", but that may be stretching the excitement factor just a tad...

The House at Riverton   By Kate Morton  more here

A well written and finely woven mystery. The ending was a forehead smacker, loved it! Bet you will too.


An Echo in the Bone  By Diana Gabaldon more here  

What can I say - Jamie and Claire are back and soaking  up the 800+ pages was  no hardship!

Highland Angel  By Hannah Howell   more here

 If you're looking for light escapism - be warned that this one addresses some heartbreaking issues...   


Silver Flame  By Hannah Howell  more here

Enjoyed the read!



Midnight Awakening  By Lara Adrian  more here

Enjoyed the read!

  

The Fire in Fiction  By Donald Maass  here

Writing the Great American Romance  By Catherine Lanigan  more here

I haven't read these writing books from coverth to coverth yet. I'm jumping around and reading on a need to know basis. And I'm discovering that there's a lot that I need to know!

In Memory of Josh

The 'Poke and I sat in a memory circle today, with our son, at the highschool. We gathered in memory of a young man who took his life this week...Josh. You would have to look long and hard to find a more well-liked person than Josh. Many nice things were said in the circle about Josh by the other ten kids in his grad class (those that could speak), and the other students and staff, but the one thing that came up again and again was his smile and his ability to make others do the same. It was heartwrenching seeing what those kids and teachers are going through, not to mention thinking what Josh's family is enduring.

I managed a sentence and a half of this post, the 'Poke wrote the rest, sometimes there are no words. Hug your kids, and tell them that you love them. Everyday.

Plug and Unplug Week

Thanks for all of your helpful advice and encouraging comments this week!

I've got some new ideas sloshing around in my brain and it's time for me to pop the cork and spend some quality time with my revisions. I'll be partaking in B.J. Anderson's Unplug Week, which begins the third Monday of each month.

I'm still on a quest for those magical few lines that will describe my book. If you have your lines, or your blurb figured out, feel free to plug away in the comments section. I'd love to hear about your projects!

Hope you all have a productive and enjoyable week!

Revision Update #2: Back to Square One

I set myself to a task last week, (come up with a one-liner, etc. that would describe my WiP) and I actually have a one line description to work from now - full credit for that one goes to the 'Poke. I did not manage to complete the entire assignment, and not for lack of trying.

Outlining does not come naturally to me, but with two weak-plotted WiP's staring me in the face, I realize that this has to change. Any further attempts to edit the manuscript would be a waste of time, like throwing a coat of paint on a condemned building. What I need now is some solid restructuring.

Previous attempts to plot using the board and index cards have failed, but I'm giving it one more try...

Do you use this method? Any thoughts or advice? I hope I'm headed in the right direction.

Happy 101 Award

Many thanks to Yaya at Yaya's Changing World for gifting me with the Happy 101 award!

Now I'm to share 10 things that make me happy and pass the award on to 10 fellow bloggers. I asked for some help on these in my last post so I'm going to combine my happy list with the recipients who inspired the answers:

1. What could inspire happiness more than cupcakes with sprinkles!  

Dawn at Plotting and Scheming
Stephanie at Hatshepsut: The Writing of a Novel

2. I'm not sure what tipped you off Bridget, but yes, the cowpoke does make me happy :D. The fabulous art at Bridget's "other site" makes me happy as well.

Bridget at J.B. Chicoine-Unsupervised & at Large

3. I enjoy talking about books and the Wheel of Time series offers all sorts of fodder for debate. (I have it on high authority that certain bloggers believe that pink awards go well with the black blog backgrounds.)

Bane at Banes Blogging Blues

4. Did you know that a spiders blood is transparent? Love trivia. Here's to my fellow earwig loathers:

Roni at Fiction Groupie
Deb at Catbird Scout
Laura at Laura's Simple Pleasures
Elspeth at It's a Mystery

4. I'm not the only one who covers my eyes when it comes to scary movies!

Tamika at The Write Worship

5. Compliments on my writing make me blush but to be honest they also make me happy. Ah, shucks.

Wordy at Word Designer 
Donna at Donna Hole

6. Getting an invitation for a cuppa and a chat is awesome. Finding that it comes with an award, is icing on the cake. Thanks so much for the "One Lovely Blog Award" Jarmara! (I'll get that out soon!) 

Jarmara at A Mission Impossible for a Nightwriter  

7. I love the outdoors and animals. I'll toss gardening in here as well.

Helen Ginger at Straight from Hel
Paul Greci at Northwriter 

8.  Reading is one of my absolute favourite passtimes. Honestly, I don't know what I'd do without my books and having free time to read is a huge treat.  

Alissa at Slightly More Than Dirt
 
9. I'm a genealogy hound, I've been known to spend hours, days, weeks tracking a single fact; a date or a name. I love following clues and solving puzzles. I think I would have liked detective work. Yet, when it comes to writing - plotting is not my strong suit...  

10. Saying supercalifragilisticexpialidocious is fun and I'm happy that I know how to pronounce it because otherwise I'd have to translate this - (pronounced /ˌsuːpərˌkælɪˌfrædʒəlˌɪstɪkˌɛkspiːˌælɪˈdoʊʃəs/) - and that would scare me.
 

"Let them eat cake!"

A Couple of Awards

I have a couple of awards to pass along. First off, many thanks to my good friend Laura Martone, over at Laura's Simple Pleasures, for the Honest Scrap Award. If you haven't visited Laura's blog head on over and check it out.

This award comes with a few rules; thank the person who endowed the award upon you, share five personal things about yourself, and pass it along to five other bloggers. 

1. I was addicted to the game Mob Wars on Facebook for over a year. I signed up to help a few of my young relatives enlarge their mobs and ended up getting sucked in. My player name - Manifesto Incognito. I'm happy to say that blogging cured me of that little addiction...

2. There are apparently no limits to the lengths I will go to in order to have something to talk about with my offspring. Two winters ago I read the entire Wheel of Time series at the behest of one of my sons. If you are familiar with the WoT series you will know that I waded through something in the neighbourhood of  three million words in twelve gi-normous books. This year I read the Twilight series after a nudge from one of my granddaughters. I'm not sure if this makes me a good person or just another sad sack martyr? You tell me.

3. I'm terrified of earwigs, and gory scenes in books and movies give me nightmares. Yet I have no qualms when it comes to catching slimy little calves in my bare hands as they enter the world. I guess there's gore and then there's gore.

4. I'm a die-hard romantic, I try to look on the bright side, and see the beauty in all things. I recall one autumn night, standing out in the freezing cold, assisting the 'Poke as he stitched up a prolapsed cow. Not fun for the cow or for us, but there was this amazing sky, with millions of stars and a plump harvest moon shining down on us... 

5. I have been known to don an evening dress upon occasion. I once played Vanna White at a charity auction. Though I much prefer the organizing and behind-the-scenes grunt work involved in putting these events together, I am capable of socializing and can "work a room" if the occasion demands. (Just thought I'd casually mention that, in case any agents are lurking about wondering if a rube such as I would be capable of putting myself forth in a marketing capacity. You never know...)

I'm passing this award on to five great blogger's that I haven't previously passed to. Head on over and visit their blogs!

Alissa at Slightly More Than Dirt   

Scott at 275 Words  (one man. one year. one novel.)

Angie at Angie Muresan  

Deb at Catbird Scout  

Yaya at Yaya's Changing World  

Needle in a Haystack

Narrowing my manuscript down to a one line description is like searching for a needle in a haystack or trying to pick Frosty out of this crowd.

Bane posted some interesting stats today and now I'm wondering how many of these snowmen snowpersons are writers? Crafting a catchy one-liner or paragraph that describes my book may be the least of my worries. Maybe I need a gimmick to stand out from the crowd. A hat perhaps?

Huh. I think Frosty was on to something there, the black silk hat does stand out, but I don't know what possessed me to put it on a faceless snowman... (must be a Freudian silk) Better stay focused on the one-liner.

I'm obsessing a bit over this whole one-liner/paragraph/blurb description thing, but when asked what my book is about, my response still begins with "Umm, well..." That has to mean major plot problems. Doesn't it? 

~

This just in: How to Write a Bestselling Romance Novel: Lessons from Twilight

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Weekly Revision Goals #1

I love the freedom, the rush I get from writing--driving with the top down, hitting the open road, pedal to the metal, hair straight back: destination unknown. Adventure!

I'm not as fond of revisions. The mere thought of getting through to the end has my hair standing up.

See, I wasn't kidding. That's me in the 4-Runner yesterday. I used to think that hair blowing in the wind was sexy. Now I'm thinking - not so much.

I've avoided making any formal resolutions for 2010. I have mentioned here and there that my goal for this year is to finish the revisions on my two WiP's. I completed the first draft of Mark of the Flame almost a year ago and put it on hold while I wrote the first draft of Valkrey's Moon. Time to fish or cut bait.

In lieu of making resolutions I am going to set some weekly goals. I've read tons of good advice in writing craft books, by fellow bloggers, and by various online sources. I'm going to start off this week with some tips from Holly Lisle's website :

1. Write down your theme in fifteen words or less.
2. If you have sub-themes and know what they are, write them down too.  
3. Write down what the book is about in twenty-five words or less.
4. Write down a one-line story arc for the book’s main character.
5. Write down the main characters, and a paragraph of no more than about 250 words describing the story, sort of like the blurb on the back of a paperback.
 
So that's my assignment and it's due by Friday... 
 

~

 
THIS JUST IN: A doctor on the local radio station contends that "the seasonal flu may hit... or it may not" and the weather man is predicting a 30% chance of snow. I just don't know how I'd make it from one day to the next without that kind of up-to-the-minute information.

~

Edit: Janna at Something She Wrote has a post up about The Snowflake Method, another one to check out.

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What Song Am I?

The last book I read in 2009 was John Sandford's The Night Crew (1997). I often find myself taking down notes when I read one of Mr. Sandford's books. Some of his material is a little dark for my taste, yet I'm drawn to his writing, his voice, and above all: his use of description.

In The Night Crew I found two descriptions that pinged my sense of hearing:

"Anna and Cheryl were still on the phone when Creek arrived, doing his shave-and-a-haircut knock."

Can you hear the knock?

I was wondering how I could achieve something similar, then I heard the Steve Miller Band on the radio today singing Take the Money and Run and there's a quick hand clap riff in there that sounded a lot like the quick hand clap bit in the Friends theme song.

Now that I've got "the clap" I just have to figure out what to do with it. Okay, first I'll have to stop laughing, because that just sounds so wrong...

And now for the next John Sandford description and the What Song Am I? question of the day:

"Barefoot, humming to herself--something stupid from Les Misérables that she couldn't get out of her mind--Anna took the watering can out to the porch, and started watering her plants."

I loved this one, I haven't seen Les Misérables, yet I was able to identify the song and therefore hear it.

Do you know what song it is? Any guesses?

Hint: Think Seinfeld (1991) : The one where Jerry buys the obscenely expensive jacket with the candy stripe lining, and George and Jerry meet Elaine's father.

The really annoying part of this is that it's been two days since I finished the book and I'm still periodically breaking into the song... Very clever Mr. Sandford, and if I may say so: just a tad diabolical.

So, two questions: What do you suppose the odds are of Mr. John Sandford stumbling across my blog? and What Song Am I?

~

Character Development tip: Jarmara over at A Mission Impossible for the Nightwriter had an excellent idea, check out her post on using the Family Tree Maker program to build your characters' family trees.