Wednesday, November 30, 2011

You Are Awesome!

"You are Awesome" Maybe that's not the best title for this post.
Maybe it should be,
 "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas" or
 "Thinking of others" or
"Make a Difference"

The Christmas season is upon us. It's the final countdown to Friends, Family, Presents, and Holiday Cheer, But...
Every year I make the same plea. I post it on FB, My blogs, or I tweet it.
We were all Thankful on Thanksgiving, now it's time to give back.

There are people every where that don't have what we have. There are homeless, people in shelters, nursing homes, and many people out of work, struggling just to keep their gas and electric on.

So I am asking for everyone to help others.
Whether you donate canned goods to a soup kitchen, or give to Toys for Tots, is up to you.

If you're not sure who to help here are some ideas and some of my favorites.

Make A wish Foundation http://www.wish.org/

Candle Lighters http://www.ccfsocal.org/candle2/about_us

Leukemia Society http://www.lls.org/

Ronald McDonald House http://rmhc.org/

Your local hospital Children's ward- Books, CD's, crayons, Lego sets, slippers, and hats.
(My oldest son, now 35, had leukemia as a child. So these are personal faves of mine)

Do you knit or crochet? How about making a couple of scarves and donate them to the homeless shelter, or make some small lap blankets or slippers for a local nursing home.

I'm not asking you to donate a million dollars here. With dollar stores everywhere you can pick up a few coloring books for kids, socks for the homeless, or whatever you can imagine.

And one last plea, buy a couple of cans of dog food and donate to your local animal shelter, because they need love too.

I know times are tough for everyone and many of us can't afford to help at all, so for those of you, please share a smile, a warm handshake, a kind word, or just a hug. Or volunteer to help!
 It can be the best gift of all.

My apologies for those that don't celebrate Christmas. I wish all of you Happy Holidays!

No matter what religions we are, or what beliefs we have, it all comes down to, we are people, We share this world together and it is up to us to make it a better world.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!

You are Awesome!

Do You Doubt Your Work?

This is my horoscope this morning... Cold Feet? Me? Yes, actually I do have doubts this morning.

I have been reading little excerpts from other writer and author's books. And for me that's a No-No.
The reason is, I tell myself, is I don't want to be influenced by other's writing while writing my current book.
But over the last few days I have stumbled upon little bits and pieces here and there on blogs that I follow.
The problem is I find myself saying, "That's awesome. That's great!" And because I might be in a slump on my own writing at the moment I say to myself, "Why would anyone want to read what I write?"
Then I go back to my current work and start reading through it again, and tell myself, "It's not so bad. :-)

Do you have doubts as you are plotting out that perfect book? Do you get cold feet?
What do you do to get your feet warmed back up?


Energy
Jupiter Trine Pluto
November 19, 2011 to December 17, 2011
The graph for Jupiter Trine Pluto
Don't wait a second longer than you absolutely have to. You have the power in your eager little paws. Don't get a case of cold feet now!

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Feeling Philosophical

When I was going to college I didn't take classes on writing or business. Which frankly, those are the type of classes I should have taken, seeing where my life has taken me, but...

I took classes on Philosophy, Psychology, and Sociology.
Mainly because I like people. I like to get in their heads and see what makes them tick.
See what makes them do what they do.
 I love meeting new people, sharing ideas with them and helping them achieve what they want in life.
Bottom line is...People fascinate me.

BUT...My post today has to do with being grateful. (But watch the rest will show itself, in some way or another it always does)

I am ashamed of myself for being lazy and not posting "What I am thankful for on Thanksgiving", but shouldn't we be thankful every day of our lives?

I was reading a blog this morning and it was titled, "Are you Thankful, Even for the bad stuff?"
http://chickletslit.wordpress.com/2011/11/24/are-you-thankful-even-for-the-bad-stuff/

I'm a firm believer in "Everything Happens For A Reason." And "When one door closes, Another one opens."
And the big one: "You have no one to blame but yourself."

Let's say your car breaks down. Well a car needs to be maintained to keep it running. That, I would think would be a forefront reason, wouldn't you say? But maybe it broke down, so that you wouldn't be at a certain place at a certain time. Ever stop to think about that?

As for one door closing, I was going to use your job as an example, but with our economy so messed up and so many people out of work, I'll use relationships instead. Maybe you finally break up, swearing never again, and someone walks through that new door, that you spend the rest of your life with, wondering how you ever lived without them, and this brings us to choices.

The choices we make shape our lives. You can choose to take that new job, or walk away from that old relationship, and with those choices you still have no idea how your life is going to change, let's say 10 years down the road. I tend to cringe when someone asks, "Where do you want to be in 10 years?" Normally this is a question asked for a business plan. Well, first off I don't want to be broke and homeless. But life happens, people change, family and friends, come into and out of your life. Things happen that we have no control over and sometimes it's other people's choices that affect our lives.

So I'm not thankful for the bad things, but I do understand that everything happens for a reason, even if I don't understand or agree with it.

As to what I'm thankful for...
My Family
My Friends
That I have a house to live in and food to eat.
My dogs and my son's dogs.
And all the other things that have shaped my life so far.
And I am thankful that I have the ability to make choices, whether good or bad, in my life.

Now how does this relate to writing, you ask..

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

What Genre?

I have to blog this morning. I wasn't going to, but I have to or I won't be able to move forward on my NaNoWriMo this morning. It's a brain thing....

I was reading the guidelines for a contest and am stuck as to what genre my NaNoWriMo falls in.
Here are the different genres! So many to choose from and yet my novel falls into 3 or 4
How do you choose!
http://www.harlequin.com/articlepage.html?articleId=538&chapter=0

It is a tragic love story, with friends and family for support. There's some sex (Originally I wasn't going to have any, but it needs to be there) There isn't a happily ever after, but there is a closure. A feeling of content. It is actually the first book in a series, but can be a stand alone novel. The last book in the series is also the same way. It can be a stand alone novel and it does have a happily ever after ending. There's no traveling to foreign countries, or history involved so I don't have to worry about those genres.
Here's a link to someone else's blog and his problems publishing concerning genre.
http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents/your-job-is-to-write-not-worry?et_mid=526100&rid=232953210

And here is the contest link.
http://www.soyouthinkyoucanwrite.com/contest/

Oh and the Q4U is, Do you query it as the series to agents and publishers, or do you take a chance on the contest?

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Do not let this happen!

Please do not let this happen! Be Honest!
Tell the truth!
You know you were bad this year!
Come on....
Admit it!

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Back up and Save, Back up and Save!

I can not say this enough. Back up and Save. Back up and Save everything!

I can't begin to tell you how important this is and yet....
Yep, that's right, it takes a near catastrophe to remind myself to
 back up and save certain things on my computer.

I purchased a brand new desk top PC in July 2006.
 I had just started my new business of creating custom designed gift baskets in Oct. 2005
 and needed a new computer for my new website.
That computer got a virus and crashed in 2008, the day after my virus protection expired.
Here's another thing to remember check your emails frequently,
 so you'll know when your protection is expiring!
(I still haven't learned this rule either, hence the 1500 + new unread emails
I have sitting in my inbox waiting to be read) And I am giving advice! Sheesh!

Well I got the pc to run in safe mode and saved what I needed.
And then my son brought his PC in and I started using it,
until Windows did their little thing of new updates need to be downloaded/uploaded whatever,
you know those little notifications.
Anyway his PC went through all of them at once and fried the hard drive.

Well to make a long story short. Oops! Too late for that. Sorry...
I have a new laptop. Well my son bought it for me for Christmas 2009.
It's nice and has Windows 7 but I'm cheap and when my trial ran out for MS Works...
And Windows 7 is not compatible with my Yahoo Sitebuider program for my website.
I use this computer for mainly surfing the web. Facebook, twitter, blogging, etc.

I have an old laptop, Not a lot of memory, slow processor, small hard drive,
But it has Microsoft works 2003 And I Type my novels on it.
Oct. 30th...I had just finished my first MS 200+ pages, 96,000+ words and was going to do a read through, so I decided I'd get my lap desk and sit on the couch with my feet, instead here at the dining room table, and my little dog Duggy decided he wanted to play. He got tangled up in my mouse cord and my laptop went flying across the room face down on the floor. He ran off and hid under the dining room table, scared him and on my knees I turned over my laptop and there was a huge section highlighted, my mouse wouldn't work, my eraser wouldn't work and I figured it had froze. OMG! What am I going to do, I had not backed up and saved all that I had written! I finally got another mouse to work and everything was okay.
Did I immediately back up and save? Nope!

I am doing NaNoWriMo and they tell you back up and save often!
I am 30,000+ words into it and get up this morning, turn on the computer, and what do I see,
A black screen with blue words telling me, There is something wrong with my computer!
OMG! Heart attack time!
It says shut it down and restart and if that doesn't work, blah, blah, blah
I didn't take time to read it all, I shut it down and restarted and as soon as it worked...
Yep, you're right, I BACKED UP AND SAVED! Both novels.
Grabbed my little memory stick and Did it right then and there!

Please remember to back up and save!

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Success!

I think society places too much emphasis on failure, instead of each step of our success. For me, just sitting down and writing the book, saying I can do it, and then doing it, is the first step of being successful.
Success should be taken in baby steps.
1. Writing the book. If you told yourself you were going to write a book and you do it,
Pat yourself on the back.
You've just taken your first step and you were Successful.
2. Family and friends read you book and say, "WOW, you wrote this? This is awesome!
Be prepared, not everyone will like what you wrote. But don't forget to give yourself a pat on the back!
3. You get published or you publish it yourself. Either way it's out there now.
That's one of your baby steps, right? Give yourself Another pat on the back.
4. Your first copy sells! Awesome!
Boy my back is getting sore from all these pats,
 Oh wait, personally, I am still at step one, but to me, I am successful, so far anyways.

5.You will find naysayers along your way to success.
They are the ones who ask,
Are you making any money at this?
Is it worth your time?
Have you sold a million copies yet?
Are you rich and famous?

Success is what you want from what you do.
If you are writing that book to make a million dollars, or sell a million copies,
 then I have to say you are setting yourself up for failure.

Let's go back to step 2. Be prepared, not everyone will like what you wrote.
We all have our own tastes in life, whether it's what we read, eat, or watch on TV.
Not everyone will love Chinese, Italian, or even Indian food, nor does everyone read romance, paranormal, history or whatever genre that's out there.

I think the success comes from people liking what you create and coming back and asking for more.
Picture a very successful pizza joint in NY. Let's say they get Rave reviews and people are telling you,
"You have got to try their pizza! It's the best.
Yeah well maybe it's also expensive or you don't like pizza.
 (What! You don't like pizza? What is wrong with you?)
And there you have it. Not everyone is going to eat there, but their success doesn't rely on everyone.

Bottom line, "You can't please everyone."

I think that as a writer our success is sharing something that we enjoy. We want people to read what we write, we want to share our emotions, our thoughts and feelings. Give them a little glimpse into our heads, or share with them the beauty we see through our eyes.

So I'll leave you with this thought;
Take your baby steps, pat yourself on the back, and know that whatever you do, you are successful.

Happy Hump day everyone!

Oh and here is the link to read about Heather's success into self publishing.
Thanks Heather for sharing, because you helped me write my blog today and gave me inspiration  to succeed at whatever I do. So give yourself a pat on the back!

http://www.thebookdesigner.com/2011/11/notes-from-a-self-publishing-success-story/

Had to share another link! http://www.genreality.net/stephen-king-fear-is-at-the-root-of-all-bad-writing/comment-page-1#comment-12407

Monday, November 7, 2011

Hi I'm Chipper! Number required!

Good morning and Happy Monday! It is going to be a great day today!

Why am I so chipper this morning?  I haven't a clue.
My house is a mess. There are dishes piled in the sink.
And let's not even talk about how bad-ly I need to vacuum!
And did I mention I just read my NaNoWriMo pep talk from Erin Morgenstern
Who is sitting on a beautiful beach somewhere, with a drink in her hand
that has one of those cute paper umbrellas in it
and she's waving at me, swimming 50 yards out, in shark infested waters
 and I swim like a frog!
Well maybe she didn't say exactly that, but that's what I read!
But what she did say was, "I love adverbs"
I read it! I swear I did! And I thank her for saying it.

But anyway, there's a fresh pot of coffee on!
Come in, sit down, and visit for awhile.
Oh and don't forget to have a number! (That will be explained shortly)


I read a blog a few days, weeks ago. (When I write I lose all track of time)
Anyway, I am also bad with names.
 People shouldn't have names! They should have numbers!
My son will challenge and test me
 till I am ready to scream and he does it just so he can laugh at me!
"Mom, whose the lead singer of Metallica?" 13 (That's my answer and I'm sticking to it!)
"And whose the guitarist?" 14. "Okay and who did he used to play for?" Wait, I got this one!
     OZZY!
Okay so I do remember someone, but if your name isn't
 Ozzy, Rob Thomas, or Stephen King,
You better have a number!
Now that I have complete-ly confused you, I should get back to what I was trying to say.
I read this blog post by somebody and she said you shouldn't use adverbs and she mentioned Stephen King in the post and something about he doesn't use them and I'm thinking...
So since I am a huge fan and have a collection of his books right over there,
 I pick up one and read a paragraph,
Well there's an adverb, pick up another book, yep there is another.
Why are adverbs so hated?
I just don't get it.
Here's an example,
"She gives him a kiss on the forehead as he lays dying in her arms"

Okay that works, but I prefer,

"She kisses him soft-ly on his forehead, tender-ly holding him in her arms,
as he closes his eyes, slow-ly taking his last breath."

Okay it's the little things that get me chipper.
She loves adverbs!



Have a Happi-ly Chipper Monday everyone!
Oh and I'm 5, it's nice to meet you. :-)

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Emotions, Coincidences, You!

Good afternoon and Happy Saturday! Shh! I'm not supposed to be here, I am supposed to be on my other laptop writing, but I just had to stop by and visit for just a minute.

I want to talk about emotions, coincidences, you, and your writing, but first a message from our sponsor,
                                                 No wait that can't be right!
But first a little peek into my crazy mixed up head is more like it!

I finished my first novel last week, well there are a couple of paragraphs that I feel I need to tweak just a little.
When I started writing it I knew it could be a stand alone novel, ( It has a beginning, a middle, and a very Happily ever after, but it also has questions unanswered that would be answer in previous books),  even though in my head there are at least two more ahead of it and that should go with it, but at that time I decided not to write them. I didn't think they would have the impact like the third one. That is until I signed up for NaNoWriMo and figured I'd write the first one for the challenge.
                            Talk about emotional!
Here it is 5 days into it and I am at 15,340 words, And I have laughed and cried more than once. And I haven't even gotten to the saddest part. I get ready to go to the grocery store with the story swirling around in my head waiting to be written and I'm in tears....
"What can I say, I'm the emotional, sensitive type..."

Okay now for the coincidence. A line in my current writing has the heroine looking down at her big toe, peeking out at her from the hole in her shoe. The reason it's there is because her shoes are too small.
Okay, got that? Okay good.

Hours after I had written that line, I had put on my favorite tennis shoes. Looking down at them I had to laugh at my big toe peeking out at me. No my shoes aren't too small. These are my Duggy shoes and that hole has been in there for about a year now, ever since my sweet little dog Duggy chewed it there.

Okay now you.....

How much of "you" do you put into your writing?
Stop and think about it for a moment, and then let me know.

Well I have really got to go! Catch you all later!

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Happy Hump Day!

Good morning! Hope everyone is having an incredible day so far.

Is anyone doing NaNoWriMo?
How's it coming?
I wrote 3756 words yesterday and as soon as I get off this computer,
(I use the other laptop to write), I will be lost in the wonderful world of writing.

We have those awful Santa Ana Winds and they are blowing like crazy!
So that means it's a great day to stay inside and write.
And do some house cleaning, and laundry, and...

Maybe I'll venture out a little later and see where all my patio furniture ended up

Well I am off! Enjoy your day!