Funny Author!

I met Amy Kathleen Ryan at the Rocky Mountain SCBWI confernce last year. She is smart, witty, and engaging. I don't know this Sparks guys she speaks of (disclaimer: yes, I do, but still think she is way better!), but I never met him and didn't laugh at any of his videos--so she gets to be on my blog, not him.

Enjoy!!

Giveaway on Larissa's Blog

My friend and fabulous critique partner Larissa is having a great giveaway on her blog. She got to go to a great conference and has decided to share the love! Please stop by and follow her blog and comment to be entered.

Larissa's Blog

Weekends Off?

I've been trying to get caught up on some of my blog reading over the last few days, and I am glad that some people take the weekends off--it is helping me get caught up.

I got to thinking that the weekends typically signal high-gear for my writing. There is too much with all the work, kids, and television during the week for me to do much with my writing. But there is something about my favorite purple coffee mug and a Saturday morning that just gets all the gears turning in my head.

So here's what I do on the weekends to get caught up.

Critiques--some of them are long overdue, but it helps me get to work on my own stuff.

Read--sometimes novels, sometimes books on writing. This week: The First Five Pages by Noah Lukeman

Reading Blogs--looking for advice, tips, inspiration

Think--(today it was out by the pool, most days it is in the shower) I think about my characters and my plot points and my ending/resolution . . . or starting a new book

Facebook--ok, this really isn't helpful at all, but I can't seem to stay away. I like to justify going to check things since I have writer friends there.

Oh, and sometimes I write!

I wasted enough time today. Tomorrow I crack open Word and get to work. Have a great weekend!

Hiatus

I guess I unintentionally "unplugged" for the entire month of May and most of April. Ooops! Summer is here and I am slowly getting back to work on some writing. Here are a few highlights over the last month and a half.

1. My first 40 pages are now in the hands of Suzie Townsend. I am anxiously awaiting her advice. I rewrote the beginning before sending it to her, and now it feels like I tried a new recipe with company on the way. I hope it doesn't flop.

2. I was notified that I am a finalist in the Panhandle Professional Writer's Frontiers in Writing Contest. Yay!

3. But, I may not get to attend the award lunch because I am taking my son to the STAR Center and a developmental pediatrician this summer to get to the bottom of his developmental issues. That doesn't exactly leave us any $$$$ for things like conferences, but what's a few dollars when it could change our lives!

4. School's out! It couldn't have come a moment too soon. We will just have to chalk up (no pun intended) the 2009-2010 school year as one of the most challenging yet.

5. We got a pool. My daughter is ecstastic. Someone should buy stock in sunscreen right now.

It's looking to be a summer to remember!

Influence

Things have been a little quiet around here. School has hit the busy testing/research time of year, we had lots of rain, and my kids and dogs all have spring fever. So while I may not have had a chance to blog, edit, or write, I have been thinking and reading. I finished two books over the last couple of weeks that have influenced me to try something to help my own WIP.

The two books, When It Happens and Two-Way Street both have two points of view--alternating chapters with the girl and the boy. I have always been a little skeptical of multiple points of view--it can feel like head-hopping, but it worked well in both of these books. One of the strongest elements that contributed to the clarity of the narrator were that the chapter headings made it clear who it was that was talking.

These two books got me thinking that I needed to get to know my characters better by writing as if I were them. I don't think the multiple point of views will work for this WIP, but I am off to write some chapters from Daniel's point of view as a writing exercise. My editing has reached a crossroads where I really have to deepen my book and up the stakes--and who better to tell me what to do than the characters I created.

Great Advice

I have been trying all week to post a few things, but I have had trouble logging in . . .

But it is working today, so I wanted to link to a great post over at the Writer's Digest Blog about the best writing advice on the internet. I love a good piece of advice!

Some of the articles have helped me with a couple of breakthroughs this week. Hopefully I can make a little progress on things today.

I hate April Fool's Day

I have never been a big fan of April Fool's Day. Probably because I am gullible and fall for the silly jokes. The other reason is . . .

April Fool's + High School = Torture

As a teacher you check a few dates every year because they bring the freak out in high school kids. Most days they can be a little strange anyway, but days like Homecoming, Halloween, Valentine's Day, and April Fool's make the strangeness fester and explode like a bad zit (or a bad metaphor, lol!).

So it is April Fool's and I am at school and I am bracing for the torture, when our lovely athletic trainer comes wandering in.

Mrs. B: Hello, lovely athletic trainer!

Miss Lovely: Mrs. B, I need ALL of your students ALL day to come to the gym and take the Presidential Fitness test.

Mrs. B: What? You want to take ALL my students and make them run and do push ups?

Miss Lovely: Yes.

Mrs. B: Is this an April Fool's joke?

Miss Lovely: Nope. I will take them to the gym and make them run.

It was about this time that I heard the angels singing. So here I sit, nice and peaceful on an April Fool's Day. I have seen a few pranks here and there, but they mainly consisted of boys pointing another boy's shirt and then poking him in the nose.

I hope your April Fool's is peaceful as well!!