Until Next Year-Part 2

And it continues...

So, really though, all that boo-hoo, whiny, poor us crap aside-Christmas wasn't completely horrible. No matter how old I get, I'm still that kid who can't sleep well Christmas Eve Night and gets up at the crack of dawn after not sleeping. And it's not because I was anxious for presents or whatever else, I just find joy in Christmas and when it's near I gain this odd energy that carries me through most of December on hardly any sleep. That's not what made Christmas not so bad though. It was getting together with all of my family on Christmas and then getting to redo it all over again with my dad's side the day after. I love spending time with all of my family. Plus my kids had a great day both days and that's great too.

I love Christmas, for many reasons. I could go into a rant about what I think about Christmas and people and whatnot, but I won't because I don't want this second post to get into anything negative.

So moving on...

I still have no plans for this blog. I keep thinking something will come. That one day I will wake up and think, yes! New blog idea. But, it doesn't happen. I can't even write these days. So, I'm going to make a list, something like a resolution list I guess. It'll be my to do for the new year and I'm going to think of ways I could get myself to actually do it and not let myself down.

That's really the end of my 2014 blogging. I will return tomorrow with a list. Because maybe if I write it out and post it for all to see, it'll help me hold myself to it. Maybe I'll take a screen shot of that list and make it my desktop and screensaver and whatever else...

Until then, I really do love that you all stuck with it this year. I kept bsing, and giving up, and trying and failing...My blog was damn-near deserted and yet you stayed with me. Faithful to the end. I really appreciate that. It's an awesomeness in each of you that I can only hope to repay next year the way I should've in 2014. You're all great and I'm so thankful.

See you in 2015! :)

A Week of Thanks...

I had a plan for the month of November for the blog, but it didn't happen. The plan was to write a post everyday leading up to Thanksgiving about what I'm thankful for. Since it didn't happen, I'm going to do a few this week.

Monday: I'm thankful for my followers and all my writer friends (all of which are online friends). Each of you have been there, helped out, made me laugh and smile, you notice when I'm MIA and you're all just so great.

I'm going to spotlight someone right now, but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate everyone else just as much. But really, Alex J Cavanaugh deserves some special recognition on this thankful post. Even when I'm busy and having trouble getting to blogs, I still try to stop by and read his. But even then, I never get the chance to leave a comment. For all he ever knows, I just don't get over there at all. Yet, every time I post, he's here, commenting and supporting me, and to me that's beyond awesome. The fact that he still takes time to stop by my blog when he's got SO MANY, means a lot to me and I'm really thankful for that. I don't get a lot of comments, but when I see his, I feel like I've got thousands. He's such a special person and I'm thankful I found his blog and 'met' him. So, THANK YOU ALEX for being the AWESOME person that you are.

It's not a long thankful post, but I just wanted to let you all know that I'm thankful that you stop by to see me, tweet me, chat with me, and everything else. You're all wonderful.

Happy Monday everyone. :)

One Week Down

I intended on posting this yesterday, but I got busy and forgot. It sucks, not having time for the blog. I miss my blog, my followers, and the blogs I follow. NaNo is helping pull me out of my funk completely though. I'm writing, getting back to critiquing, and even doing better finding time just to read. Which means soon I'll be back to blogging more and reading blogs. Yay. :)

One week of NaNoWriMo gone and my total word count is 16,524. I'm slightly ahead, which is good because last night I fell asleep before I got any writing in. If I didn't have that cushion, I'd be disappointed, but I do, so it's all good. I'll be writing today and with any luck, maybe I'll gain even more cushion.

It took too long to come out of my funk and I'm still on the border of falling back into it and not. I don't want to be there again. Not writing wasn't good for me. The more I didn't write, or critique, or read, the more I couldn't motivate myself to do any of it. I don't like that place and I'm glad you all stuck with me. Everyone gave me good words of encouragement and you made me feel better, thank you. I have some pretty amazing online friends, you all rock.

Last thing, I realized that I forgot about the Insecure Writers Support Group, so let's call this update post, my IWSG post for this month. Better late than not at all.

I hope you all have an AWESOME weekend. :)

How about you...Are you writing? Revising/editing? Doing NaNo? What's going on in your life these days?

I'm Not Insecure...Much

So this is my first Insecure Writers Support Group post. I'm actually a little nervous, lol. That's the awkward side coming out. I'm always afraid I will mess up, say/do something I shouldn't, not say/do something that I should. That's in life, in everything I do-especially when I'm trying something for the first time.

And that's how I felt when I first started writing a book. It's how I feel when I'm critiquing someones query letter or MS. I feel that way when I'm posting my chapter(s) for my group to critique or when I'm sending a chapter to my CP to crit. I even feel that way with revisions and when I'm starting a new story.

I guess it's not fear as much as insecurity. I'm worried about how I will sound, how well I write or if my critique is even going to be helpful. It's normal, this worry I feel with everything I do. Even the most secure person has that fear inside them, that wonder if what they have to say (or what their doing) will be 'approved.' (Even if they don't think so :p )

When I started writing my first (for real) book (the one I started when I decided I wanted to be a WRITER), I kept it to myself. Then I slowly started talking about it with family and friends. Some thought it was just another of my fantasies, while others were (and still are) SO supportive. Hell, when I started a blog, everyone but my mom thought it was ridiculous. Now I love blogging and I love writing. I've always loved writing, but I love giving myself that title-WRITER.

I've met so many wonderful (and not so wonderful) people online and being part of the Insecure Writers Group is just another opportunity to meet more wonderful people who are like me. Writers who feel insecure sometimes. People who have worries and fears just like I do. Friends who can be there for me, and who I can be there for in return.

That's why I embrace my insecurities, all the wondering if what I'm doing is good enough, because I know that I'm not alone and I have people in my boat who are ready to be there for me. People who will help keep my insecurities from running me, and help me run my insecurities. I encourage you to embrace yours too because you're not alone either.

Hopefully this first post is okay...lol, yep still have that 'first time' fear. But that's okay.

Happy Wednesday and make sure you click the 'Insecure Writers Support Group' link and check out others :)

Zzzzz

Zealous Zs Zing, Zig, (&) Zag

So, I named this post Zzzzz because it's the end. The challenge is over, now we can all take a breather and relax. No need to get the posts up on time or make sure we hop around to a few blogs everyday. While I will miss the challenge, it's still a bit of relief.

Okay, I'll still be making sure I have posts up on time(because this is my weird OCD and I have to post at a certain time just because) and I'll still be hopping around blogs. But...well, I don't know that there is a 'but' other than-it's over.

Are you happy it's over? Are you going to be in withdraw come tomorrow? Will you continue to find new blogs with the Linky list? Did you meet lots of new people? Find some awesome blogs? Find some blogs you thought were the weirdest thing out there? Boring blogs?

I had fun, and I met new people, and found some interesting blogs. Thanks to everyone for visiting me, hope you stick around after the challenge. :)

Happy Zzzzz-ing :)

Intrigue

Input Intrigue, It's Imperative

Influence the people around you, those that buy your books or read you blog.

Notice that they're coming to you, curiously hoping for something interesting to read.

Take the time to create something fun.

Remember to write what you like, but do it in a way that won't bore your online friends.

It's important to realize and keep in mind what brings you to their attention.

Give and be generous, courteous-write words that make them excited to come back for more another day.

Use your personality, resources, knowledge.

Especially make sure to remember that your online friends are there for you, be there for them by giving them something worth their time.

People read our books and our blogs, they follow us and are loyal. Our online friends are there for us, so make sure to give them something that keeps them interested-if not, what's going to keep them coming back? What will keep them loyal?

Happy Intriguing :)

Care

Anyone who has been following my blog knows that today is supposed to be Thoughtful Tuesday. I would normally post a poem or some random thoughts. I'm changing it up just a bit for the A-to-Z. This is another semi-theme that came to mind when I was trying to decide on a poem to post. I couldn't pick, so instead-each Tuesday will be a post about being thankful for our online friends because I am very thankful for mine!

Caring Creates Character

Connect with your followers, they are following you for a reason.
Appreciate that they take the time to think of you, to read your blog (or book(s) because this applies to writers too)
Recommend them. Their blogs or books or both. Their Twitter and Facebook page. Mention them in a tweet or a link on your blog.
Enjoy the fact that you have followers and interact with them as much as possible.

Take the time to care about your followers, your online friends. A simple thanks is all it takes. They care enough to pay attention to what you have to say, so you should care enough to show them you appreciate what they have to say.

Happy Caring :)

Men, Kids, Friends, and Laptops

Oh the week I've had. It's been great and horrible all wrapped up together nice and neat-or not so neat. WILD is the best way to explain the ride i've been on all week. Between trying to better organize myself, CRAZYYYYY kids, attitudes (from everyone myself included), my asshole ex, and all things writer related...this week has been exhausting. I hit bottom, fell through, and haven't stopped falling.

I'm okay though, i can handle it. Everything will balance out eventually. Last Saturday I ranted about details. What did you say? You didn't read it? Oh, well, It's right here. :) This week, so many things went wrong, and so many things went right that I'm going to do a mix of ranting and excited talk.

First off, let me just say-Men: If you make a child or children, please take care of them. And I don't mean just sometimes care about them, I mean ALL the time. My ex is a great dad in the sense that he absolutely loves our kids. And I mean, truly unconditionally loves them. The problem is that he also unconditionally loves himself. He thinks that as long as our kids are provided for, he doesn't need to give me any money for them. Yeah, doesn't work that way. I don't care if the mother of your child, or children is the most famous best-selling author-you still need to provide for them. It may suck, but you do. And please do NOT pass up an opportunity to spend time with them because you want to go out instead. I mean damn, your child(ren) should ALWAYS come first. You should NEVER chose hanging out with friends over them-it just shouldn't happen. UGH! Please men (and women who know men that have kids) never put anything before your kids.

Now, on to more pleasant things....I did a lot of connecting this week and it felt great. Maybe I'm a little lame, but I don't have many friends outside of my online friends. I don't do much that would allow me to connect with people outside of the internet and the TWO friends I have (who have been my friends for almost 15 years) don't live anywhere near me. So, whatever friends I connect with online are what make up my circle of friends.
Something else-For the time being, my house is completely cleaned. It's usually clean, but with two little ones, it doesn't stay that way. There are always a sink-full of dishes, floors that need swept and mopped, a lot of dirty clothes (especially since my 3yo hates being dirty and changes her clothes frequently), and more. It takes a lot of work to keep up with the house, as I'm sure anyone else with kids understands. But this week, I was able to get more help from my kids and we kept the house clean. All that's on the cleaning list for this weekend is sweep, mop, and laundry. It makes me feel good and means that I have more time to play with the kiddos and hopefully keep them from being as crazy.
One last thing that made me enjoy this week-I got through a lot of my critiques, although I still have some to do before tomorrow, I'm still proud of what I did get done.

I'm adding one more thing that was irritating this week. Well, truly this has been happening for almost 3 weeks now, just gradually getting worse. My laptop (which is a mini) is unhappy. I don't know exactly what the hell is going on with it, but it's soooooooooooooooo slow. It takes me forever to get anything done on it. Each day this week it has gotten worse. I'm tired of the slowness and I was already starting to dislike the size of it, so I'm going to move on. It probably won't happen for about a month or so, but I'm going to get a new laptop. I think when I do, I will let the girls play some games on it.

Anyway, that was my week. If you have a headache just reading this, be positive, trust me-it's much worse if  its happening to you.

Happy Saturday :)

To Do List: Critiques

Here is my first installment of the writer's to do list and how to get it done. If you want to see what's on the to do and/or if you have suggestions: Go Here.

Now, for the first thing up on the To Do:

Critiques:

Some of you may say, This isn't on my list, so it doesn't pertain to me. I say WHAT!? If you are a writer, you should also be a contributer. One way, and the best way, is to critique your fellow writers work(s). If we don't extend the olive branch, then how do we expand our fan base? (And if you even think a fan base doesn't matter...you need to rethink the whole writer thing) I'm a member of a critique group (which I'm sure I've mentioned) on AgentQueryConnect (which I know I've mentioned) and I love my group. We are a fairly new group, and each week we post a chapter or few for the others in the group to critique. Currently we are all beginning to wrap up our first MSs, and although I've been lucky enough to get to read each of their stories-I will buy them and read them again when they are published. In addition to my group, I swap chapters with two different people that I met on QueryTracker. And I recently began helping out with Caterina Torres' Short Stories. When I have time, I also critique queries on AQC. Through doing all this, I have gained: Friends and other writers to critique my work(s) and to give me opinions on my work(s). If that is not motivation enough for you to add critiques to your to do list, then you may not be ready to call yourself a writer.

Now that you are convinced, let me give you some tips on how to manage this task:


     1. Join some writer forums first and foremost-they will aid you in your journey and will become a very important part of it as well. This will help you network your work and yourself, it will help you connect with other people who are going through the same thing as you. This is a place that will help ground you. It will be somewhere you can go after you just got your first or thirtieth rejection letter, where there will be people to help lift you out of the funk and away from that feeling of failure. I have mentioned the best two in this post, but there are others out there. Find one, join it, and participate.

     2. Now that you have joined a forum, browse around. I don't know of other sites, but AQC and QT both have places you can put out a "Want Ad" that let's people know you want a critique partner. In addition, there are groups that you can join and places to post queries and synopsis to have critiqued. And it's going to give you the opportunity to begin critiquing others works.

     3. Once you've done those two things, you're set. Let it happen, let people find you and don't stop seeking out critique partners and groups until you've successfully found some.
Most groups are going to have a certain way of going about things. For example, in my group, we post a chapter or few each week. When I found my one on one partners, we decided what would work best for us, which ended up being 1-3 chapters/week as well. This pace works for me, and it's typically the best time-frame to use.

    4. You have your group(s)/partner(s) and you have your setup....Now what? Do it! Make that commitment, it will help you in many different ways. As long as you keep up your end of the critiquing, you will have a partner/group that will be useful and will be there for you in your journey-with each MS. If you agreed to one chapter a week...critique that one chapter a week. There may be weeks that you are swamped by other things, but you must set aside sometime to get your critique(s) done. No matter how much you have to do. Critique groups and partners are going to play a vital role in your writer life. They will be able to pick you up when you're down, they will be able to push you to do your best, they will be there to say your plot sucks or is great. Regardless, now that you have partners in your journey, you have support that you can only get from people who are going through the same things you are.

SO-Are you a writer? Then you find the time to check it off. I know I say it so simply, but that is only because somethings are just that simple. You need your critique partners and therefore, you need to find time to tend to them.

Happy Critiquing! :)

That's Me! Well, Sort Of

Recently, over on my favorite site, yeah, you know the One, I asked another member, Calista Taylor, a few questions in regards to pen names. She gave me some helpful advice that I thought I would share. Let me start from the beginning, kinda...

When I was younger, I hated my name. I always said I would change it legally when I grew up. I never did, but throughout my life, I always had some sort of nickname. People often tried to convince me that I was ridiculous and my name was pretty, I never came to the same feelings. When I decided to be a writer, I also decided I would use a pen name. So I started thinking about some options.

(Before I continue, if you are wanting to use a pen name, and need some tips- Go Here. And do it even if you don't think you need the tips, you may learn something)

My first mission when I was trying out my options, was to Google different names I thought of. Each name that came to mind brought up countless hits on Google, Bing, and Yahoo. That is of course, a no no. I began getting silly with it, just hoping that I would come up with something. Eventually, I created a name. I went to all my top search engines and typed in the name....