Time Capsule

Let's pack up a time capsule for future generations.

We're setting the dial for the year 2210.

You and I won a drawing - we each get to include one book or series in the capsule.

Pretty big responsibility. We want to make sure those kids/teens/young adults fall in love with reading like we did. Of course, there will be plenty of writers in 2210, but we want to share some of the great literature being written right now!

My first books that would go into the capsule would be:
If you haven't had the delight of reading Laini Taylor yet, rush to your library or bookstore tomorrow and get this series. I'm no good at book reviews so I won't stumble through one. In a word: delicious. Reading her words is like biting into a ripe, juicy peach and having the words run down your mouth. You can taste it, smell it, feel it. Character names - Magpie Windwitch and Whisper Silksinger. How gorgeous are those names? These are books that are on my shelf and will be shared with my children, just as my mother shared her favorite books with me.


Who would you include?

What book?

What series?

FUNNY Friday

I'm in the mood for some comedy.

For all of my LOST friends. If you didn't see the alternate endings on Jimmy Kimmel, you missed out. If you did, they're still just as funny now.



Which one is your fave? Mine is the first. "I'm sorry, Sayid. The tribe has spoken."



I have a lot of "Persian" (you know, like the cat...Meow!) friends and they have passed their love of Maz on to me. I now bequeath it to you.



I feel guilty laughing at this kid but he is just so cute and funny. What a little stinker. It's so cute that he doesn't want to admit HOW he got back there!



"Thanks for saving me. Now could you get the police car out of there?"

Hope you have a FUNNY Friday and a GREAT weekend!

Who's On YOUR Cheer Squad?

Writers, like cheerleaders, need a solid base underneath them. My rock is The Hubster. He holds me up high and steady. My first reader. Usually my most critical because he can't stand YA. This is a good thing. If the story can suck him in, I'm on the right path. He also has questions. Questions that need answering. Also, a good thing. Because we miss things. The picture in our head doesn't always make it to the paper. Sometimes there are things missing - from the background, from the foreground, from the face...


While it's fine to have that one rock solid person beneath you, look at how much more you can do with a BIGGER group!


You can build higher. And you have people you trust to catch you if you fall. Then launch you right back up there!






Which brings me to my expanded Cheer Squad.

I got my first rejection. It was the classic mistake everyone makes in submitting too soon. But it was one little contest that promised a short critique of everyone who submitted. The Top 3 winners got to submit a full manuscript. It was my first complete book...and a first draft. There was NO WAY I would win. I just wanted the feedback on the first three chapters from a professional. Silly me. I placed in the Top 3. Then I panicked because I knew what I had was not worthy of the editor or the publishing company, but it was too late to back down. I sent it off, then beat myself up mentally for making the mistake others had warned against. What was done was done. Back to the rejection email...

It stung a little. Very little because it was well written and not much in it was a surprise. The editor took the time to give me great feedback that will help strengthen my writing. I printed it out and slid it into a frame. Silly me. I can't help it. I'm still proud of it, rejection or not.

I also sent the email to my cheerleaders (without the editor's email, name or publishing company on it - simple cut and paste of the content so that they can see what we'll be working on in critique group).

One of my cheerleaders took that rejection letter and pulled out only the positive, emailing it back to me like this:

Let's count her words "wonderful" "intriguing" "promise" "sucked me in" "great" "strong, capable, knowledgeable, and intelligent" " easy charm" "winner" "you write it well" "lovely intriguing story" "fantastic potential".
And such helpful advice - such solid concrete direction. You book is going to be even more excellent with this review. I can help too! You will be published. You are just steps away!



How AWESOME is that?!? Because now I can do this:












She flipped me right back up. (Amanda, you ROCK!)

Still have work to do, but keep soaring. And I'll keep flipping you right back up there until you have that trophy.

Until WE have that trophy.

Because as writers, we never do it alone. We have our cheer squad helping us along.

That's what Acknowledgments are for.


Who's on YOUR cheer squad?

Wednesday Wishes

This is Wednesday leaning out of her cat tree. She may look like just your average gray tabby cat, but she has many skills. Most of these skills, she uses for The Good. Okay, 'most' might be a slight exaggeration. Wednesday is a good little kitty, though, at heart. She loves her family, loves her sisters, loves annoying those sisters and she also loves to grant wishes. Every Wednesday morning, I will rub the side of the cat house and summon our magic cat!

My Wednesday Wishes for the week:


1) Protection from the wicked stomach bug that is going around. Odd request? Throwing up is my worst fear. I'm obsessed with NOT vomiting. There's a nasty bug going around and two of my friends ended up in the ER over the weekend because of dehydration. Couldn't even keep water down. I had a nasty bug just before my wedding which I was kind enough to share with The Hubster and that was bad enough. Every half hour in the bathroom for eight hours before it stopped. Ever since then, the thought of catching a stomach flu can send me into a panic attack (truly). So I want an invisible bubble around me that keeps me safe while I'm teaching today and Friday.

2) Hocus Pocus FOCUS! I'm having trouble focusing this week. The perfect weather conditions have come through. Nice chilly days with splattered with rain. I need to be writing. Instead I'm blogging or baking or cooking. On Monday, I made dinners for the week, pumpkin muffins and No Pudge Fudge brownies. I spent four hours in the kitchen! That isn't like me.

3) Krav Maga. Have you heard of it? It's Israeli hand to hand street combat. It's what I imagine my characters can do to get themselves out of any situation. I want to take classes. But the center is far from my house. And expensive. I wish that I just knew how to do it. I woke up magically one morning with the ability to fight myself out of any situation. Any. Anywhere. Whether it's a bar fight today or in the 1300s or in some magical land.

What about you? What are your wishes this wonderful Wednesday?

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

Yesterday was the PERFECT writing morning.

It started with this...
I threw open the windows so I could hear the soft fall of the rain on the grass in the yard, the roof, the pavement. The wind brushed the chimes on the porch occasionally, adding to the wonderful sound!








The cool breeze woke me up, but I added a few cups of this...












Next ingredient...
To be honest, I lit the Mulled Cider first because it can really wake up your senses...and your hunger so I had to blow it out. I didn't want to be distracted from my rewrites by a prematurely growling stomach.











A dash of this...











A hint of this...











Heaping handfuls of this...










And we can't forget to throw in the snores of this great beast:













It made for a very productive day!





What are your favorite things when you write?

The Importance of Routines

I prefer to get my writing done in the mornings - set aside a few hours of quiet time for just me and my project. Sometimes, though, life reaches a large hand in and snatches that morning time clean away from me. What then? Then I make time to write in the evening. I find that a daily routine is important to me, but just as important - being flexible with that routine.

What if I'm not inspired? I write anyway. I don't wait for inspiration to strike. I need to be writing whether I feel motivated or not. If I wait until I feel like doing something, the house would NEVER get cleaned. The laundry would never get done. I wouldn't exercise. I don't believe that true writer's never have to force themselves to sit down and write. Hogwash. There are days that we don't feel well, that we have other things on our mind, that we'd much rather watch shows on TiVo or go to the movies/coffee/lunch with our friends. What makes us writers is that we WRITE. Consistently. Not just when we feel like or inspiration strikes. If my tush isn't in my chair with my laptop on, I might miss out. Thirty minutes into struggling with something, I might hit gold (I often do). That carries me through the rest of the writing time I have set aside, and sometimes takes me over it! If I had made an excuse not to write that morning, I wouldn't have that new little plot twist.

What if I don't have a lot of time? Some days, I don't. I teach three days a week. I know that I have to come home and walk the dog, feed myself, tidy up. I still set aside time. Even if I can only get 30 minutes in, I take it. I sit down and write something for that 30 minutes. I have found that my writing routine can come on vacation with me. It's completely adaptable to whatever and wherever. I was camping - I still had time for a long hike every morning, then family time around the campfire every evening, and daily naps! I told myself I would write for an hour each day. It ended up being a minimum of two hours every afternoon. I didn't always work on the three projects I had going and that was okay. I wrote short stories, poetry. But I wrote. Every day.

Do you have to write everyday? No. I have friends who set aside time three days a week. They write those three days. The other four are too busy. One of my three-day-a-week friends is far more productive than I am. Those three days are precious to her. She gets the most out of the time that she has. It's an easier commitment for her. It works quite well. I have another friend who writes for 8 to 10 hours a day when he is working on something. At the end of the day, our writing routine needs to work for us or we won't be successful.



What is your writing routine? Do you write every day? How long do you write for? What works best for you?

FUN Friday

How can you not smile watching this?



It's FUN Friday so I am REMAKING the World!

In my NEW world, the following is true:

Right ALWAYS wins.

Life is totally fair.

Mean people are frozen into statues (permanently).

Starbucks delivers.

Ben & Jerry's is a food group.

Everyone sparkles in the sun (not just vampires). (My niece insisted on this one...she also insisted on sequins being a mandatory part of everyone's wardrobe, but I overruled her.)

Manicures and pedicures are free.

So are massages. And they happen daily.

Let's make Starbucks free as well.

Pajamas are acceptable to be worn in public.

It always rains directly over my house except for two hours every afternoon so that Lily can lounge in the sun.

There is no pollution. I can breathe freely, deeply.

The house cleans itself. We're talking top to bottom, spotless!

And all the neighborhoods ban together to make it look like THIS everywhere:

(I got this from Laini, who got it from Stephanie and it's a REAL program!)

LOVE LOVE LOVE

What would YOUR New World be like?