Category Archives: writing

ROW80 Update: Not a Damn Thing

Yep, that’s what I’ve been up to, but I’m about ready to get back at it. I don’t even feel too badly about it; I’ve been writing almost every day for a year. I deserved a few weeks to rest my brain.

So what have I been doing?

20130811-102454.jpg

I’m actually working on that pony* I need to have done by the end of the month. It’s strange getting back to it; I haven’t had a paint brush in my hands since the winter. Possibly before Christmas, actually. Feels good. Also, I find that doing something creative that’s NOT writing gives my brain space to think things through without my conscious mind censoring, and sometimes it’s a good way to get around problems and blocked thought processes.

So that was actually a ROW80 goal, which means that I AM making progress on something.

What else have I been doing? Well, if you follow me on Twitter you might know that I hurt my hip this week, totally NOT while I was shaving my legs (though I’m still working on a cooler cover story). That’s right. I tell Twitter things I don’t tell you guys. I AM A MYSTERIOUS AND COMPLEX WOMAN. This was several days ago. The first evening and day after The Amazing Adventure Which Led To My Injury (TBA) were horrible- I couldn’t walk without leaning on walls, furniture, people, floors.

That’s right. I didn’t fall down. I was leaning on the floor. There’s a difference!

Thanks to beaucoup de Advil and as much rest as the kids would let me get, I’m almost better. Still hurts, still a little stiff, still don’t know what I hurt, but I’m hoping to get back to taking Jack for at least a short walk tomorrow. The poor guy is getting really depressed over the lack of walkage happening around here.

"Kill me now."

“Kill me now.”

So the answer is, I haven’t been doing much. Made those awesome chicken fingers the other night, overcooked them. Hint: don’t do that. Made meatballs last night, I’m told they were good. I don’t know, I hate ground beef, so I’m kind of a terrible judge. Cooked wild-blueberry pancakes, and they were amazing. Made my way downstairs to do laundry yesterday, cleaned out the litter boxes… ALL OF THE FUN THINGS, I HAVE BEEN DOING THEM.

I also had the privilege of alpha reading a fantastic novel, and the horrifying responsibility of sending feedback. I hate doing that. Even when a story is great, you want to do what you can to make it the best it can be, but you know that it’s probably going to sting the author a bit. I find it easier to give a critique than to take one, but it still isn’t easy. I think doing both helps us grow as writers and as creative people; in fact, critiquing someone else’s work can open our eyes to potential flaws in our own and help us gain objectivity toward our own writing. It’s win-win, really.

So, goals for this week: We’re going to be at the in-laws’ for a few days, which means little to no editing time for me, but I’m going to take the computer and give it a shot. I’ve nearly settled on the things I’m going to change in my novel before it goes to the next round of readers. Next step: locate the exact places that need changes, and figure out how to do that.

Easy, right?

Yeah. Easy as moving one ace in a house of cards without disrupting everything else.

Aaaaanyway. I’m also going to get around to some more ROW80 blogs today and on Wednesday, and I’m going to try to put something together for WIPpet Wednesday. I got to comment on most entries there last week, but haven’t posted in two weeks. I miss it. We’ll see.

And I’m still trying to get those pictures off of my stupid camera so I can finish telling you about our Ontario trip. Wish me luck!

What are you up to this week?

(for more of those Round of Words entries I’m going to be reading, click here!)

*For any collectors who may be freaking out, here’s the info: she was a Majesty, play set edition (aka “receding hairline edition). She had a slight head-body mismatch, her symbols were almost gone, and the new paint job is covering “pony cancer” and ink stains on both sides. What I’m saying is that yes, she was bait condition.


And So It Goes in the Arts Today…

Here’s an interesting quote I happened upon in yesterday’s newspaper in an article about how Marianas Trench is doing a concert in St. John’s tonight and I’m not going. Okay, so the article says nothing about me not going, I’m just bitter (come on, I was just there!). It does, however, feature guitarist Matt Webb saying something that sounds exactly what you hear from authors all over the place these days:

“Everyone thinks that once you have that elusive record deal that you just coast,” he said, “but in today’s world, it’s when the real hard work begins. There’s no huge budgets anymore, so you really have to do a lot of the work yourself, whether that’s online through social media, promoting your work or whatever.”

Take out the word “record” and replace it with “publishing,” and how many times have we heard that? Seriously, tell me. I’ve lost count. Once a day, at least, on various blogs or news articles.

Sucks for many of us, who would be happy to just write and hand off the marketing stuff to someone else. This seems to be our reality, though.

So, what thinkest youse guys? How do you find out about new music or books? Do you ever try to connect with favourite artists via facebook or twitter, or have fans connected with you that way? How much promotion of this sort do you think is necessary? How much does it suck that I’m stuck in the armpit of the province right now and not in St. John’s, waiting for a concert and a possible holiday on Wednesday?*

Feel free to post any links to helpful promotional sites/tools/whatever, anything you’re using and having success with. Or if you think that self-promotion is a crock and completely useless, feel free to tell me that, too.

(I’m a fan of Kristen Lamb’s blog, myself. I’m waiting for her revised books to come out so I can read ’em up)

Bonus thingy:  CreateSpace posted this on faebook yesterday, and it was too perfect not to share. I’m totally doing the guitar hero thing. *ahem*

*Regatta Day is a floating holiday, entirely dependent on the weather. It’s a bit weird, to be honest, but I like it.


Two steps forward…

…and then, inevitably, one back. AMIRITE?! *puts imaginary gun to head*

Two critique partners have pointed out a disgusting flaw in my story to me. It’s not one that previous readers mentioned, but now I’m slapping myself for not seeing it, and my muse has been sent to sit in the corner and think about what he allowed me to do.

BAD BOY. STAY.**

Anyway, it’s nothing I can’t fix, and everything is going to be better for it (this is why I loves my CPs), but it’s something that seems relatively simple at first glance… and then makes you go “holy crap, this changes SO MUCH OF EVERYTHING.”

So two steps forward (people like the story, things are good), one step back (partial revisions needed again). Pretty much what I expected, basically. Sometimes you know something’s not right but can’t figure it out, and you have to find people who care enough to gently smack you with a 2×4 of readerly/writerly wisdom to help you focus on potential poopstorms.

I’m actually happy about this. I want my work to kick as much ass as possible and I never want to put out a book that makes multitudes of readers go “Why did no one point this crap out to her?” My inner perfectionist, however? She is pitching A SHIT FIT. She’s such a bitch, I swear. I can critique other people’s work, find flaws, and think no less of them as a writer or a person. If I make a mistake, though, Miss Perfect gets all huffy and tells me I should be embarrassed, get all emo, give up already, maybe re-think the whole writing thing or switch to something marketable like zombie porn. (Don’t look at me like that. These are both huge things in publishing today!)

*zombie/prostitute joke removed because I respect you all too much*

But that’s just Miss Perfect talking, and I’ve learned one important thing about her: She’s not me. Simple, yet profound. These thoughts are not me. These thoughts are not truth. These thoughts lead down a rabbit hole I have no interest in exploring. I am allowed to tell my old friend companion tormentor to shove off and take her nastiness with her. It’s a good feeling.

Why am I sharing this with you all? Two reasons. One, because I think honesty helps all of us. If me talking about my failings/setbacks helps someone else understand that mistakes are okay, we can’t do this alone and shouldn’t expect ourselves to, then I’ll do it. The second reason is that I might not be talking too much about writing for a wee, tiny little while, just until I get this all sorted out in my mind.

My thoughts needs to incubate, yo. Hang on a sec.

*sigh* Yes, you can come out of the corner…

OK, back to work for us. I’ll be posting a few times this week, probably about my trip to Ontario. There’s SO much I wanted to share with you guys! You know, besides the unicorn. That one couldn’t wait.

I don’t know whether I’ll be posting for WIPpet Wednesday, but I’ll be back to commenting on everyone’s work this week, and trying to get back into commenting on ROW80 stuff, too.

See you around!

*Just kidding. I love him… this is so my fault.


Why I Blog (blog challenge day 31)

Wow, we’ve reached the end! With a little creative planning, a little pre-writing, and some scheduled posts while I’m away, this has worked out pretty well.

blog challenge

“Why do you blog?”

Many reasons. I blog to share myself, to get my voice out there, maybe to have someone hear me.  I blog to share my work, to gauge interest in projects, to get a bit of feedback, perhaps even to build an audience (…or maybe not). I blog to add to the chorus of those of you who are doing the same, sharing your hopes and dreams and frustrations and setbacks, your fears and the doubts that plague all of us. I blog to help, to offer insight based on my own experiences, and to encourage anyone who needs it. I blog because it lets me connect with all of you, and allows me to share things that I think are important (or that just make me happy). I blog to learn about myself and my process. I blog to keep writing when the words won’t come anywhere else, and yes, sometimes I blog to procrastinate when I should really be writing something more substantial.

I blog because it lets me be a part of a community.

So that’s that. No big, shocking revelation, no twist ending for this little project. No cliff-hangers to deal with, either, and no body count to speak of– guarantees I can’t make with fiction. 😉


Making Up is Hard to Do (blog challenge day 30)

You’ve witnessed the horror that was her purse.* But are you prepared to survive… THE MAKE-UP BAG?

blog challenge

I hope so, because that’s today’s topic.

It’s actually not that terrifying, or even exciting. This is just what I keep in my little travel bag for touch-ups. It DID say bag… if it had asked for all of my make-up, we’d have a longer post on our hands, with foundations and creams and mascara and eyeliner and eyeshadow and LOTS OF FUN THINGS! I don’t do fancy make-up, but I do like having the option. 🙂

20130722-162007.jpg

  • powder
  • oil-absorbing sheets
  • lip thingers
  • dental floss
  • meds (including advil)
  • emery boards
  • lots of hair clips
  • tiny tweezers

*Gah, I hate that word!


On the Road Again (blog challenge day 29)

Oh, the places I’ve been… or not.

blog challenge

“Where have you travelled?”

Not many places compared to a lot of people. 🙂

Counting the places I’ve lived and places I’ve just visited:

CANADA: Ontario (Ottawa, Toronto, Hamilton, Kitchener-Waterloo, places in between), Newfoundland (everywhere along the Trans-Canada and a few other places on the Avalon penninsula), Alberta (but only in the Calgary airport for a stopover), Saskatchewan (Regina, when AJ was there for his Mountie-fication), Nova Scotia (Halifax, Sydney… lots of Cape Breton, actually), Quebec (Quebec city on a school trip, worst drive EVER through Montreal), PEI (vacation with my family, so pretty), New Brunswick (juuuuuust passing through…)

USA: Florida (Busch Gardens > Disney, IMO), Virginia, New York state (but not city… yet)

Elsewhere: Iceland, when I was a baby, so I don’t remember that.

Seriously, that’s it. I could be happy spending the rest of my travelling life just exploring Canada, but I would like to visit England some day. And New Zealand. Maybe Italy…. Ireland, Scotland… any chance of me going to Narnia? No?


Oh, Joy! (blog challenge day 28)

Day 28: “What are you looking forward to?”

(caution: language)

Confession: I’m writing this on July 22nd. I’m looking forward to that magical time in one hour when my dear AJ gets off from work, and then he’s on VACATION!!! You have no idea how exciting this is. AJ has been putting up with unbelievable shit at work lately and doing his best to cover for other people’s assholery. He’s been overworked, and has gone weeks where he’s been either at work or on-call 24/7.

You might say he’s looking forward to getting away.

I’m excited to see my family soon, I’m looking forward to OMG THE AMAZING FOOD WE’RE GOING TO EAT IN ONTARIO, and to meeting our newest niece for the first time. But right now, at this moment, what I’m most looking forward to is seeing AJ relax and not jump every time the phone rings. It’ll be relaxing for all of us. 🙂


Hot and Cool (blog challenge day 27)

Day 27: “post your favorite recipe”

OK, I’m going to not do that, exactly. To me, a “recipe” means you have to give things like measurements and temperatures. I don’t have that for you. What I AM going to do, just because y’all are so special to me, is tell you how I make my buffalo chicken fingers, because they’re fan-effing-tastic. The non-recipe is based on my mom’s chicken wings (if you want to use wings, go ahead; I just find the strips are easier to judge as far as cooking times, etc)

The secret, my friends, is TZATZIKI.

For the uninitiated, tzatziki is Greek yogurt stuff with cucumber and a whole lot of yum. I get mine in the deli section of the grocery store, where they keep the hummus and all of that (President’s Choice tzatziki is yummy). Yours might keep it in the dairy section. Either way, you’re going to mix that with milk to make it thick enough to coat your chicken strips*. Then dip that in bread crumbs to coat, and cook in the oven. I’m not giving times or temperatures, because my oven is strange, and it depends on how thick you’re cutting your chicken. I usually go 380 degrees for ten minutes, flip, then check to see how much longer they need (usually 7-10 more minutes).

After that, dip in your hot sauce of choice (I always use Frank’s hot sauce mixed with melted butter. More butter=milder sauce.)

Then chow down. The tzatziki adds a cool flavour that offsets the hot sauce very nicely, and it makes the meat wicked tender. Unless you overcook it… watch out for that.

Serve with rice, or whatever you feel like. Mashed potatoes work well, too. Pour extra sauce all over your side dish. Num.

*Yes, raw chicken, not frozen chicken strips. I use boneless, skinless chicken breasts and slice them up. Feel free to make nugget shapes if you’re feeling rebellious.


Back in the Day (blog challenge day 26)

Hey, remember that time I did a 31 day blog challenge? Good times.

blog challenge

“An old photo of you”

Hmm. I don’t think I have a copy of the picture of me as a baby handy, and I think my mom has lost the picture she took to prove to her sister that I was a girl (mom, if you still have this, please don’t post my baby coochie here). How about something a little more than ten years old? That’s half-way to vintage!

wedding1

In keeping with my general policy of not posting pictures of AJ, I can’t post most of our wedding pictures, but here’s my mom fixing my hair. Actually, she’s pretending to fix my hair so we could have this mirror picture. I was not as terrified as I look here… tired, still struggling with depression and anti-depressants, but not terrified. 🙂


Favourite Blogs… yeah, OK (blog challenge day 25)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

What’s that? The 25th isn’t always Christmas?! I’ve been living a lie all these years…

blog challenge

Oh, right. Not looking forward to this one. How in the name of blogging am I supposed to choose five favourite blogs? It’s not possible. I can’t even choose a favourite sweater (and believe me, I don’t have many of them), let alone pick five favourite blogs out of the ones I follow.

Ugh, fine. Here are five that I’ve found entertaining and helpful, and I’m purposely choosing blogs of people who are not close personal friends, top commenters, blogs I’ve mentioned before, etc.

Terrible Minds (Chuck Wendig) – Yes, the language is colourful, but he paints such interesting pictures with those colours that I laugh (or at least snort quietly to myself, if anyone’s watching me) when I read his stuff. It’s not just profanity and humour, though; this guy’s got interesting things to say about culture, books, publishing… just about everything.

A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing (Joe Konrath) –  One of those bloggers whose words I take with a grain of salt because he’s so extreme in some of his views, but I enjoy his posts, especially when Barry Eisler jumps in to contribute. The comments are always worth reading through. Barry has a blog, too, that I haven’t looked at yet (http://barryeisler.blogspot.ca/)

Kels Not Chels Not Live (Vlog, Kelsey Mackey) – Enthusiastic and adorable. I like this one.

Hide and Create – Yep, throwing a podcast in there, too. No, it’s not a blog. But it has regular posts, it’s informative and entertaining. Really, it’s just a different format… right? Close enough.

Picture Me Reading– I get completely overwhelmed when I see the number of books out there that I could be reading. It helps to have a few book review blogs on my list, especially when I know I’ll see honest reviews of the kind of books I might be interested in. This blog does that, with a few bonuses: a unique illustrated style on reviews, PLUS audio that I enjoy listening to while I do dishes (multitasking that actually works! Blog time and entertainment while slaving away! Hurrah!)

Don’t look at me like that. You know I love your blog. I just don’t have room for all of them…


Anastasia Writes

politics, engineering, parenting, relevant things over coffee.

Beth Camp

Writer of historical fiction and teller of tales . . .

rogerbloomsfield

An Aspiring Author's Adventure

TBN Media

Life, writing, books, dragons- not necessarily in that order. Home of USA Today bestselling Fantasy author Kate Sparkes.

Allie Potts

Author, Writer, & Inventor of Worlds

The Wordy Rose

"Either write something worth reading, or do something worth writing." - Benjamin Franklin

Shan Jeniah's Lovely Chaos

Finding Yessings and Blessings in Lifes Messings!

Little Rittwolf's Book Blog

I thought having my own blog would help me....Squirrel!....stay more focused. I could be wrong.

The Sword of Air

Stunning new multitouch iBook by breakthrough author R.J Madigan

CHOUETT

Read it! 📖 Spark it! ✨

Denise D. Young

Wild Magic. Wild Stories. Wild Souls.

chestnut book blog

Read. Recommend. Revel.

inkedrainbowreads.wordpress.com/

LGBT Book Reviews, Cover Reveals & More! We are a group designed to help promote and review LGBT et al books. We were created out of seeing a need and wanted to have that need filled. We pride ourseles of having opinionated reviews that are unique and helpful to the author. Welcome to a world of the best LGBT et al books out there!

Dionne Lister | USA Today Bestselling Author

I love sharing my stories, but I wish they wouldn't keep me awake at night.

Avid Reviews

Fantasy and Sci-Fi Reviews For Both Self-Published and Traditionally Published Books

Author Jen Wylie's Blog

Welcome to my mind... Blog for fantasty author Jen Wylie

Pete Morin

Fiction about lawyers, cops and politicians.