Thursday, August 30, 2007

Thursday Thirteen #4




Thirteen Hunky Men!

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13....

Mmmmm! I don't think any other words are really necessary. Do you?


Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
1. Elle Fredrix
2.(leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)






Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!



Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Come Join me...


I'll be over at Princesses Of The Pen blogging today. We're talking all week about Antagonists. Click on the title of this blog entry and it'll take you right there.

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Feeling down...and being lifted up

I was reading the second chapter of a friend's WIP and got so caught up in the story that I wanted to cry when there was no more to read. Her writing is so good, even in rough draft stage. I then went back to work on my own WIP and wanted to cry for an entirely different reason. I started comparing my work to hers and I just knew for sure that my work comes nowhere close to measuring up. I felt like a hack; someone pretending to be a writer; someone with no real possibility of being published...ever. This made me sad because writing is one of the only dreams I have left. I know this feeling down on myself has a lot to do with some of the junk that's going on in my life right now- I'm blue, worried, scared for my son. It all adds up to a bit of depression.

So, I expressed my feelings to my critique group and was rewarded with an only partially joking threat to turn Chauncy the Chainsaw on me, as well as encouragement and love that I knew I could find there. They are such wonderful people and when I'm feeling low and bad about my abilities, I know I can always count on them to make me laugh and feel better.

Having good friends in life in general is so important but I've come to realize that if I didn't have fellow writers as friends, these fellow writers specifically, I would probably put down my pen forever and not even try to follow my dream of being a published writer. If you don't have any writer friends to cheer you on, do yourself a favor and find some. You'll be amazed by how wonderful it is to know there are people out there willing to hold a chainsaw to your back as you run toward your dreams!
Chainsaw

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Thursday Thirteen #3

Thirteen Thirteen things I love to hear my husband say:


1. “Honey, I got a bonus on my paycheck, why don’t you go shopping without the kids and get yourself something special.”

2. “I’ll do the dishes tonight, sweetie, you’ve had a hard day.”

3. “Go look in the driveway, honey, I bought you a new car.” (This one actually happened a couple of weeks ago and I almost fainted.)

4. “I arranged a sitter, we’re going out tonight.”

5. “I arranged for the kids to go to my mom’s house, we’re staying in tonight.”

6. “Have I told you lately how beautiful you are?”

7. “No, those pants make your butt look wonderful.”

8. “You couldn’t look fat if you tried.”

9.“Our kids are only as brilliant as they are because they take after you.”

10. “I washed all the laundry today and mopped the kitchen, cleaned all three bathrooms and scheduled a full hour of massage…they’re waiting for you now, I’ll watch the kids.”

11. “You look as young now as you did when we got married 15 years ago.”

12. “Honey, can I do anything to help you?”

And my favorite- I know I’m a sap-

13.“Honey, I’m home.”


Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!


Sunday, August 12, 2007

Vacation...finally!

I'm down in Southern Oregon at my parents' house on vacation for ten glorious days. The weather is beautiful and I don't have to do anything if I don't want to so I'll be spending my time reading, writing, and relaxing. Today we visited Crater Lake- oh my goodness it was so beautiful. We had a wonderful time and I'm ashamed that it's taken me so long to go back there- it's been at least twenty years. The weather was perfect for it and the kids had a great time.

Tomorrow I'm going to get some school shopping done for the kids because I don't have to pay sales tax here and I figure it's probably a good idea to get it done and save some $$ in the process. After that, I'll go visit my wonderful Grandmother. She's 82 and such a doll. I love to listen to her tell stories about her life when she was younger- partly because I get some great ideas for stories from it and partly because it's my history; it's where I came from.

Tuesday I'm meeting one of my best friends from high school for dinner. I miss her so much and I'm thrilled that I'll get to see her while I'm here.

Wednesday I'm going to the Josephine County Fair with my mom- that's our tradition for the past several years. We go to the fair, just the two of us and see one of the music shows that's playing as well as mosey around the exhibits. This year we're seeing the Charlie Daniel's Band and I can't wait.

Nothing planned for Thursday and Friday but Saturday, Sunday & Monday I'll be camping with my sister and her family at a great state park in Northern California. I haven't been camping in years so it should be a great deal of fun.

Tuesday the 21st I'll be heading home and Wednesday is my 15th Wedding anniversary so I'm hoping to do something special with hubby...My Prince Charming, My Knight In Shining Armour.

Anyway, I just wanted to let all of you, my loyal blog readers, what I'm up to this week. I hope you're all having some summer fun...or winter fun as my friends in Australia are having.

I'll write again when I get home and don't forget to visit the new blog that my critique buddies and I are co-authoring: www.princessesofthepen.blogspot.com

Thursday, August 09, 2007

Thursday Thirteen



Thirteen Memorable Things About the State's I've been to:



1. California- The Redwood Forest. My family used to camp at Jedediah Smith State Park every Labor Day Weekend.

2. Arizona- Scorpions, I visited my Aunt in Sedona and stepped outside her back door to watch the scorpions scatter

3. Nevada- Circus Circus- I loved watching the motorcycle riders in the big steel ball hanging from the ceiling.

4. Oregon- I was born there but I don’t remember that. I do, however, remember taking the jet boat rides down the Rogue River into Hells Gate Canyon. So much fun.

5. Washington- I live here now and love going to Seattle Center to see the Space Needle. Eating at the restaurant at the top is a fun experience.

6. Idaho- Couer D’Alene is such a fun quaint little town.

7. Montana- The sky that seems to never end. It’s so vast and uninterrupted. Guess that’s why they call it Big sky country.

8. Wyoming- Herds of Buffalo. They are such huge, amazing, curious animals

9. South Dakota- 1880 Town, Wall Drug, & Camping in The Badlands- I couldn’t pick just one thing for this state. We had a lot of fun here.

10. Wisconsin- Huge Dairy Farms. I’ve never seen so many cows in one place before.

11. Iowa- Corn fields that went on as far as the eye can see

12. Missouri- The Missouri River was so big.

13. Kentucky- That was our destination on our trip five years ago. We ended up in Barlow where I saw Fire Flies, Cardinals, Prairie dogs, & White tail deer. I toured soybean farms, tobacco plantations & an amazing quilt museum. Civil war battlegrounds, Mammoth caves. There is so much to love about that area of the country. I can’t wait to go back!

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

  • Elle Fredrix




  • Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!




    Sunday, August 05, 2007

    Princesses Of The Pen



    Come visit the newest blog on the block! Princesses of the Pen featuring the five princesses, Stacy Dawn, Bronwyn Storm, Johanna Riley, Jane Keegan, and myself, Marie Peck. Our Tiara’s are a little crooked…as is our views on writing, love, and life. Join a royally wild group of authors on our quests through the publishing world.

    Visit us here:
    http://princessesofthepen.blogspot.com/




    Ingredients of a successful Romance

    I picked up and dusted off a how to write book off my book shelf yesterday and came across a list of eleven 'ingredients' of a successful romance. The book is called: Writing Romance by Vanessa Grant. Click on the title of this blog post to go to her website.

    1. A Story Question: A good novel begins by stirring a question in the readers mind. The nature of your story question is determined by the type of novel you're writing. The story question must remain the focus throughout the story and should never be comletely answered until the end of the story.

    2. An Empowering Story: The best love stories are fantasies in which the deep emotional values of love, family, and partnership in marriage emerge victorious over lesser values.

    3. Sympathetic Heroine: The reader wants to identify with the heroine, care about her, and believe in her. She needs fears, dreams, hopes, a personal history, and hang-ups. She should begin the story at a change or crisis point in her life.

    4. A Hero She Can Love: Your hero must be a man your heroine can love. He should also have strengths, weaknesses, goals and dreams and he should also begin the story at a change or crisis point in his life.

    5. An Interesting Initial Conflict Or Problem: Most good books begin with an immediate initial problem or conflict which keeps the reader turning pages until the core conflict develops.

    6. An Emotionally Intense Core Conflict: As your hero and heroine come to know eachother, new obstacles to their happy ending must appear, or the original conflict must grow and change.

    7. A Plot: To be interesting, the events in your romance novel must be important to your characters. In a successful romance novel, the story or plot develops logically and naturally from character and conflict.

    8. Appropriate Sensuality: In a successful romance novel, the degree of sexual intimacy must be appropirate to the characters and the story. A love scene should reveal hero and heroine's feelings and excitement of their growing intimacy.

    9. Archetypes: Throughout time, certain character types appear again and again in our myths and stories, based on pattern or archetypes.

    10. Black Moment And Satisfying Resolution: As you read a good novel, the obstacles to happiness and fulfillment intensify as the story progresses. As you near the end of the book, you read a point where it seems impossible for hero and heroine to resolve their differences. This is the black moment.
    The more emotionally intense a black moment is, the more satisfying the reader will find the resolution and victory that follows.

    11. An Emotionally Satisfying Ending: When readers pick up a catagory romance they expect a happy ending. The ending must be emotionally satisfying, affirming the values of love and positive relationships.


    So, as I read through this list of must haves, I started thinking about my current WIP and trying to figure out if I had all of these things. I have some of them but I don't think I have them all. I started asking myself questions about my hero & heroine's conflicts, trying to decide if they were strong enough to carry the story and if they will weave together seamlessly to form a solid storyline. I think it certainly needs work but in thinking these things through, more ideas have come to me, ideas that will make the story stronger and won't be all that difficult to add in.

    It's amazing the things one can learn when you fall back on an old reliable source of information...How To Books!

    Thursday, August 02, 2007

    Thursday Thirteen


    Thirteen Things about The End of Summer


    1. Back To School shopping- I love going back to school shopping for my kids. New clothes and the smell of new crayons and pencils.

    2. The last camping trip- We always go on one final camping trip right before school starts. Kind of our last hoorah

    3. Getting tons of mail from the schools wanting me to update the kids' information- Hey I did't say it was 13 All GOOD things about the end of summer.

    4. Harvesting the vegetable garden- fresh zucchini, tomatoes, green beans, etc. Yummy.

    5. Anticipating quiet days while the kids are in school- I sure miss my uninterrupted writing time.

    6. Trees start changing colors- It's so pretty here when the leaves start to change. It's not quite happening here yet but it won't be long.

    7. Cooler nights- makes it easier to sleep when it's not 85 degrees at ten o'clock pm

    8. Birthday Season starts- We have birthday season here in our home because we have four birthdays in six weeks time. By the time it's over I'm worn out.

    9. Hubby doesn't have to work so hard- He's an RV tech so the end of summer brings a sigh of relief for him. He's much less uptight in the fall and winter.

    10. My muse opens up a bit- I don't seem to be able to muster as much creativity when it's so warm.

    11. Fair- The county fair and all the fun that brings

    12. Less ferry traffic- I live on a small island in the Puget Sound and during the summer the ferry traffic is horrible with all the tourists. When the kids go back to school, the tourists taper off and it's pleasant to drive through town again.

    13. Fewer bugs- 'nuff said.

    Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
  • Elle Fredrix




  • Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


    The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!