Category Archives: Misc.

My Writerly Resolutions for 2013

Posted in Inspiration, Misc., Resolutions by

2011-year-resolution-400x400_3I have never been a big believer of writing New Year’s resolutions, mainly because I know that I am made up of 10% ambition and 90% lazy. Well, at least when it comes to things unrelated to writing. You know the “I’m going to work out and eat better this year.” Yes, I would love for that to be actually plausible but let’s face it. I hate working out and I love to eat food that isn’t green. It is true that I will still probably subject myself to the treadmill and “salad only” phases throughout the year but I can promise you that it will not be consistent and it will not be fun.

I have never made a writerly resolution list though, and I think that making one and trying to follow it actually will be fun. Of course, there will still be times when I want to throw my WIP across the room and then set it on fire while my three cats pee on it simultaneously…but, I digress. The overall fun-ness level should stay relatively high.

Here are the resolutions I came up with this year for 2013 as it concerns my writing goals. I have first listed the goal and then in parenthesis the “ambitious” version of the goal. Really, the ambitious version is my actual goal but, as I said before, when you realize that you are made up of 90% lazy, you have to make yourself feel good when you exceed expectations.  If I reach some of my “ambitious” versions of my goals, I will be thoroughly impressed and may reward myself with a cookie…or ten. Continue reading →

Audio Book vs. Head Voice

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kindle-fire-hd-89I have never been one to borrow or buy audio books and listen to them; I have always preferred just reading the book myself. However, I just got a Kindle Fire for Christmas and now this audio book thing has become a very possible alternative. With the technology right there in my grasp, the idea of me just sitting there and listening to a story started to intrigue me enough until I finally found some classics that I could download for free along with the audio versions. I also found out that I could borrow books from my library in this same fashion.

Unfortunately though, I felt like I was missing a lot out of the whole “reading” process by just listening to the story. Here were some problems I had with “digesting” a book audio-style: Continue reading →

Judgement Day

Posted in Inspiration, Misc. by

No, I am not referring to the looming end of the Mayan calendar on December 21st. I am talking about the day that the winners of the writing contest are announced, you know, the one that I have been blabbing on and on about for the past month. I am sure those that follow this blog are glad to see it is finally over.

I thought long and hard about if I should post this before or after the winners were announced. I finally decided since I had already started this blog post with a promise to not mention said writing contest again that I guess I need to have the results to keep that promise.

So what happened? Am I about to victoriously do a virtual tap dance across your computer screen or do I need to end this post right now so I can wallow in my self pity and defeat?

Well…

Continue reading →

When the Writing Dream is Under Attack

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I like to think that I have my head on straight when it comes to my expectations for a writing career.  Ultimately, the goal is to do this full time and that has to involve making money, so I can’t say that I am in it just for kicks. I love it enough to want to devote many, many, many (many) hours to this craft. I do not expect to be the “next big thing” in the writing world but, yeah, sometimes I let myself dream about what it would/could be like if it did happen. The hubs and I have conversations that revolve around what our lives will be like when I am a household name and we discuss where we will have our vacation houses and what car he will drive when it’s raining outside as opposed to the car he will have for when he is feeling dangerous and, of course, we had to decide on a limit for the amount of cats I would be allowed to have on my cat farm.

However, knowing that I have not even gotten through one querying process yet (which will probably flat out kill me since I take criticism as well as a feline takes to water – so cold and wet and unpleasant!), even considering that future is kind of laughable. But it is still fun. I draw the line at fun though, as it will probably never be a reality. But just HAVING a writing career? Now that is a different story. Continue reading →

Poems By An Eight Year Old Me

Posted in Inspiration, Misc., Poetry by

So my mother was going through the massive amount of things she has hidden and tucked away in her basement and she found some old papers of mine from my school days as a second grader. She must have been a meticulous mother back then or just very bored sitting at home with children because she dropped a few binders worth of my grade school career on the kitchen table when I was over yesterday.

About 98% of the stuff was mundane, everyday school work like spelling tests and math quizzes but there were a few hidden gems deep within the endless supply of graded 100% papers (I had a fetish for being perfect when I was little). Continue reading →

How Did You Know You Wanted to be a Writer?

Posted in Inspiration, Misc. by

Sorry to pass over the almighty “destiny” speech but the truth is, I didn’t really know that I wanted to be a writer until I was 26.

However, reading and writing has always been an important part of my life. I was reading books by myself by age 3. I will never forget the story my mom has always told me about how, as a wee little one, I would have my grandmother read books to me and I would let her know whenever she missed ONE word from paraphrasing. Needless to say, she soon refused to read to me and, instead, insisted I do the narrating. Soon after, I started my own stories. Continue reading →

The Difference Between Wanting a Dream and Knowing Your Dream

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So, I used to dream about being a rock star. I would write songs on my guitar or piano as a teen and record them on my little computer mike. I would imagine singing them to a huge crowd, which conveniently would include ex-boyfriends (all 1 1/2 of them) who did me wrong and were dying to have another chance with my beautiful and talented self. I would go into the bathroom with my CD Walkman and sing to the mirror, perfecting my “performing face,” complete with dim lighting and overdone make-up. That was my dream and I wanted it oh so bad.

Now let’s grow up a little bit and come back to the realities of this dream I had. This dream I wanted. Why didn’t it work out? Why am I not still relentlessly crooning at coffee shops and pushing my demo CD on every person who has a pulse? Because I didn’t know my dream. I wanted it for sure but I didn’t know it like I needed to in order to make it a reality. Continue reading →

First Entry Ever

Posted in First Novel Attempt, Misc. by

So when I first considered starting a blog as a novice writer, I thought NO WAY! What am I going to be able to write about writing that will make any sense?? Here there are a thousand PUBLISHED authors out there with blogs that everyone will migrate to and if someone even HAPPENED to stumble across mine they would hurt themselves in the process of trying to leave it so quickly…maybe get a sprained pointer finger or something.

But that I reconsidered what my goal was even to begin with and that is to *insert triumphant music* become a PUBLISHED author myself! So what better way to help people then to show them the journey to (hopefully) getting published?? We can start here at the beginning where I have absolutely no “ins” in the publishing industry and I have absolutely NOTHING professionally published. Continue reading →