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Nov. 7th, 2009


[info]olmue

NaNo

I wrote a section I actually like! So, one scene out of 18k....well, I'll take what I can get. :) And I have to work out the details, but it looks like I should have some exciting action coming up later.

Must write about 300 more words to keep on track, though...

A large thanks to DH for taking PMB outside in the Grand Leaf-Raking Event, and leaving me inside to write!

[info]lilifae

Watching people surreptitiously...



Mark and I have had a busy day - I am utterly exhausted.

We went shopping for a new coat as the one that he has at the moment is so big it would fit Mr. Valuev (pictured above - in excess of 7ft tall).

But this isn't about buying clothes or having chai latte's at Caffe Nero or even buying books at Waterstone's, although we did all of those things too.

It's about writing, of course and observation.

Whilst sitting in Caffe Nero, another couple took their seats slightly behind me, right in Mark's line of sight. We were chatting about where to go next and how to avoid crowds when he starting smirking. He then explained that the guy behind us, dressed neatly in a pair of jeans and nice striped shirt just betrayed exactly how fastidious he is by doing one small thing only:

He took the napkin he got with his coffee, wet the end with the bottle of water he had bought and wiped the rim of the cup, lifted the cup, wiped the bottom, set it aside, then wiped the saucer it sat on, before neatly tidying the napkin into a tiny square and setting that aside.

Now I'm not sure why he did this - did he accidentally spill some of his drink onto his saucer - and frankly I don't care. Just this one single observed event already made me have an opinion about him. I mentally filed it away for use in characterisation for another project.

Similarly, outside when we were walking back to the car, a relatively handsome guy with shocking blue hair in what should have been a mohawk but it hung down instead, was walking along in run of the mill "alternative"clothing. He looked intimidating and most people just made sure they edged past him. He had on a leather jacket with this embossed eagle on the back. He looked badass. You know what he did? He strolled up to this group of elderly ladies having a chat on a bench set on the high street and stopped in front of them. The one elderly lady - perfectly purple rinsed hair, tightly curled - stood up with this smile made of pure sunshine and this big rough looking guy folded her into the warmest purest hug of happiness. Her friends looked slightly horrified. I stole that image.

Driving home Mark and I were chatting about our writing. I am keen to read what he's done this past week and I confessed I stupidly forgot my memory stick at the office with Vassilly's Daughter on it so I've been unable to work on it today.

Mark then said he is keen to hear more of Vassilly's Daughter and that I should make sure to finish it. I naturally overflowed with smiles and love but he then shook his head and said, no, more than loyalty this is because he found the story really interesting and he likes Nika and wants to see what she gets up to.

Hmm. No pressure then!

So I asked him: Can he tell the difference between my writing in Curse of the Djinn and Vassilly's Daughter?

Again an emphatic nod. Yes, Djinn is a caper, fun and relatively lighthearted with two fun characters that you can't help but like, whilst Vassilly's Daughter is promising to be something more in the line of Andy McNab meets Mike Carey in Felix Castor.

Imagine my face! Wow - not sure about the Andy McNab analogy but Mike Carey...*crazy dancing on the inside*

So, whilst Mark gets up at half past four in the morning tomorrow to go fishing, I'll roll out of bed at around eight, maybe nine a.m. and I will be doing BIC.

If you see me on twitter or on here, chase me back to Nika's story! I. Must. Write.

[info]jenny_moss

MY INVENTED LIFE

I met Lauren Bjorkman ([info]laurenbjorkman ), the author of MY INVENTED LIFE, this weekend at AASL. And, y'all, she is sooooo wonderful. I felt like I'd known her for years. I can't wait to read her book:




From Publishers Weekly:

Bjorkman sets her debut amid the high school theater crowd, peppering Roz's internal narration with imagined scenarios and Shakespearean humor, evoking all the drama inherent in putting on a play. Roz's voice is witty and genuine as she moves through the ups and downs of coming out (and eventually coming clean). Evocative of Boy Meets Boy and Dramarama, this makes for fun, thought-provoking reading. Ages 14–up. (Oct.)


I asked Lauren about her book title (which I love):

What was the title of your manuscript when you sold it? Did you have any input on the new title?

My novel was called My Invented Life when I sold it. Earlier, it had a different title--Count Me Out--which I chose for the double entendre. But the joke wasn't apparent to anyone who hadn't read it. In the midst of querying agents, I came up with the current title. It better captures the playful tone of the book.


Visit Lauren at: laurenbjorkman.com/


[info]lisa_schroeder

Contests!

First of all, you can enter to be the next stop on the Chase Around the USA for the CHASING BROOKLYN ARC. All the details are HERE. (Enter there, not here).



I am LOVING the one-word pictures readers are posting after they read the book. So far, the words in the photos have been: Healing, Hope, Dreams

What word will be next? I can't wait to find out!!

Second of all, the wonderful artistq is having a contest! You can read all about it HERE. She has a beautiful web site where you can see the jewelry she makes - www.SilverFreckles.com.

This is the one I want:



It's going on my Christmas list!

Good luck!!
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[info]patesden

Nonfiction Sale-yay!

 

 

I sold another article to Vermont Bride Magazine. This one’s about wedding bouquet trends for 2010. I like writing trend articles because I get to talk to wholesalers and dress vendors about upcoming colors and styles. Not only does this help me with the article, but it also prepares me for my own consultations with brides. Speaking of which, I better run. I’ve got a bride coming in a few minutes to talk about the flowers for her July 2010 wedding. Sheesh, it’s time to start working on July already!


[info]x_think_twice

My Favorite Books

A question from one of the ARC contest winners, [info]stephanieburgis: I'd love to read about your favorite books (because I am a total book geek).

Here's my current top ten list, which is shockingly lacking in YA titles. Most of these books have been on this list for years before I started writing/reading YA.


High Fidelity by Nick Hornby: My all-time favorite book, which I actually read for my first literature class in college. I know it's allegedly a "guy book," but I strongly identify with Rob and I think everything about this novel is spot on perfect. Perfect. I loved the movie version too (hello, Joan Cusack). I read every new Hornby novel with great anticipation but so far none of his other books have hit me so intensely.

Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg: My favorite non-fiction book on writing. My high school literary arts teacher was quite fond of this book and liked to use it during class, so I became quite fond of it too. I like to open to a random chapter whenever I'm in a rut.

The Death of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen: Picked at random to read for my summer reading assignment in AP 12th grade English, and it was the basis for my senior thesis on innocence vs experience in British literature. Every character in this novel is so vivid and tragic, and it has one of my favorite closing paragraphs ever.

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien: I wouldn't have thought I would love a book of war stories, but O'Brien's writing is so amazing. The last chapter broke my heart. I read this in bed with my current boyfriend while he watched Saving Private Ryan, which I refused to watch because...I don't like war movies.

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger: Read during the Dark Days of 2007, this unconventional love story really got me. Even though the details of their relationship are pretty extraordinary, it all felt very real.

The Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst: Another book from the Dark Days. It was so sad and dark, and it fit into a little place in my heart.

The Stand by Stephen King: I was a Stephen King fiend at age 11, and this remained my favorite book for years. It's also one of the few books to make my cry. Someone once said that Stephen King is too popular and prolific to be taken seriously in his lifetime, and I completely agree. He's a brilliant writer.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera: Another of those "right book at the right time" sort of experiences, read back in '03 or '04 when I was in a sad codependent relationship.

What's Eating Gilbert Grape by Peter Hedges: The cast of characters was incredible, and I loved the small town setting. Pretty much hated the movie, though.

(I'm tragically bumping Hemingway off the list to make room for one YA)

The Possibility of Fireflies by Dominique Paul: The ending was a little too neat for me, but otherwise I loved loved loved this book about a young teen girl growing up in the 80s with divorced parents, a wild older sister, and a mysteriously alluring neighbor boy.
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[info]karenhealey

She's a tricky thing, faith.

Y'all, I stopped being Catholic* more than a decade ago, and one of the characters in Summerton - Sione - is Roman Catholic, and let me tell you, it is hard to write about his faith sometimes.

Since becoming an atheist, I've written several practicing religious characters - one of the minor characters in Guardian is a Sunni Muslim, and the main character in a short story I might actually fiddle with again sometime is Free Methodist. But Sione is my first major fictional Catholic, and it's hitting a little too close to home.

For me, part of writing a character respectfully and truthfully involves, at least for the time that I am writing them, empathy for their beliefs and points of view. I don't believe, but Sione does, and his belief has to be sincere if he's to read true. So he prays, and feels the presence of God, and looks for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. And since I miss believing that, it's hard.

But hey, I never thought this gig would be easy all the time. I can dig in. I can do this.


*Technically, and this is one of the things I object to, I keep being Catholic, since I was baptised and confirmed. As closely as I can work out, I am an excommunicant by virtue of being an apostate, but according to the Church, I don't get to choose not to be Catholic anymore. I find that very annoying, since according to me, I totally do.

[info]cynthialord

Overheard near the toy deparment at TJ Maxx


counter create hit

dance.jpg picture by cynthialord2005
word card by Samantha


Kid:  I want that.

Mom:  You want everything.

Kid:  Of course I do. I'm a KID!  

 

:-)



[info]yolandasfetsos

Click on the pretty cover for the blurb...

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[info]kristin_briana

An announcement

Just so you know, whenever I make plans, something is bound to come along and wreck them. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, since my plans are often insane and haphazard and ridiculous.

So. My NaNoWriMo plans have officially been wrecked. I talked with my agent, and we decided that I need to do one more intensive revision before we submit CITY OF SHADOWS to editors. And there is no way in h-e-double hockey sticks that I am going to try to write a sequel while editing the first book while finishing out the semester while trying to have a social life...

Yeah. No. I'm not that talented.

So, National Novel Writing Month has just become... National Novel REwriting Month.

I'll admit - I like this plan-wrecker. I'm excited for my (hopefully!) last round of revisions. Even if it means I'm not as hardcore as other NaNoers.

[info]tezmilleroz

Yolanda Sfetsos's WITHER

Here

[info]veronica28

(no subject)

Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter

[info]karenhealey

I mean, I'd do it for a slice of the Bakewell tart.

[info]miggy: "Built in 1890 as a French Steam Laundry, this rustic two-story stone house is surrounded by a country garden planted with vintage roses, perennials and seasonal herbs. The French Laundry Restaurant has an intimate dining room with 15 tables. The dining time is 3-4 hours with two prix-fixe menus to choose from."
[info]miggy: Current menu. $240 per person. http://www.tkrg.org/upload/fl_menu.pdf
[info]karenhealey: Whoa.
[info]karenhealey: And they couldn't get anyone to advise on the correct use of quotation marks?
[info]miggy: Ha!
[info]karenhealey: JUST SAYIN'

[info]ebenstone

Not Shocked, but Annoyed

First, my thoughts and prayers are with the families of those at Ft. Hood.

I knew there would be a backlash for the President's response since most conservatives have a funny memory.  Every word analyzed and torn apart...and brilliantly edited...all by Fox News...okay, maybe not just Fox. But that's what Fox does right? I don't know why I get mad. 

The Neocons need something, their "ringer" that forced out the moderate republican candidate in the "North Country" race got spanked by a Lib commie that actually LIVES in the district...a district that has nominated a Republican every year since 1873...some parts since 1850! The last non-Republican to win was a Whig!!!!!

Anyway, I digress...let me leave you with this post, an eloquent and right on the button analysis by a friend and veteran.


(Edited after some deep thought this morning.)



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[info]the_emily_boyd

(no subject)


This is a poem a wrote a little way back, well okay, it was probably only last term. I was really bored in science.
Because:
A- The teacher really doesnt like me because I know nothing about science.
B- We were learning about blood cells.
C- Its a great class to hide at the back and write.
An Angel!
Welcome to hell.
I'll take those wings,
And that halo too.
Don't mind the heat,
Ignore flames,
You'll get used to it.
The Boss,
He's really not so bad.
Give him your soul,
Sign the on the line.
An Angel!
Welcome to hell.
 
So, its kind of lame now that I rewrote it on here :B
Woo, its summer! I cant wait to go to the beach :) Oh, no, I'm really excited about the Britney Spears concert. Whenever I mention it people say, "She's terrible!" and "I didnt think you liked that kind of music" Well, I dont have a music preference at all :P
So I'm saving all my money for that, which means no new books until christmas :(
I really want to get:
Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick
Betrayals by Lilith St Crow
Angel Time by Anne Rice
Dark Visions By L J Smith
Theres more but I think these are the ones I want most desperately.

Well, I have to much homework to be dallying. And I've only written eight pages of my (wishful thinking) novel.

:P
Also, I am obessing over All the right moves - One republic . Listen to it!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXHaCEhOiWU

For fun, take a look at this :P I'm a fan of Family Guy and I just cant get over this scene.

[info]karenhealey

There will always be women in rubber flirting with me!

A few people left comments indicating ignorance of who Maureen and Joanne were in the poll. I could tell you, but they could do that themselves.

Through song!



Maureen Johnson is a free-spirited and somewhat promiscuous performance artist who has trouble paying the rent (rent rent rent!). Joanne Jefferson is an Ivy League educated public interest lawyer.

In the Rent! stage show, they break up while planning a protest, but in the movie, which is where that video's from, they break up at their engagement party.

[info]tezmilleroz

The More You Know...

Bloke came to provide a quote for a new back security door. Irish accent. Tells Matriarch that his siblings are over here from Ireland, and they can't believe how hot it is.

It is spring. 32C. How will they survive summer, when it's 42C?

Truefax: Vampires may get burned to ash in the sun, but Celts melt into a puddle, and then the heat evaporates the puddle.

Nov. 6th, 2009


[info]olmue

NaNoWriMo

Okay, so it's Friday, and I realize that I have a whole lot of words in NaNo. Crazy. Um, they're pretty bad. But I have figured out some plot things by doing this (this is NOT the way to get character development, though!). The words--man. It's a mix of past and present tense, flat-out telling ("Fen says X, only cooler than this"), and some third person I haven't quite changed to first. Right now I'm looking at the section I'm starting (the middle third) and thinking how cool it would be to read it and know the answers to all these things! You know--the things in the outline that are like, and then they decide what to do from here, or, and then Coren overhears something she shouldn't--and they discover her secret, and she's toast! Only, my subconscious hasn't had time to figure out what those secrets are yet. Um. So far I might end up racing through this to get to the end and mark what *kind* of thing should happen--and then go back to write, you know, real scenes. The one thing I'm learning from all of this is that no matter how much I fight the barbarian within and try to appear civilized, I am teeth-baring, snarling competitive underneath. No matter how bad it is, I can't seem to give up until I've matched my word count from the day before. Not that my sister hasn't known this all along.

The sun continues to shine, which is lovely (although, as [info]robinellen says, it would be prettier if all the leaves hadn't fallen off first). Our house is coming to pieces around our ears, though. The garage door opener is possessed--it will start to go down, then pause, and go back up. So we had to unplug it, so basically I'm glad we have good weather, because I don't want to deal with it in stormy weather, when we do like to put the car inside. We did fix a doorknob and plug some large gaps between the cupboards and the dead space above them, but last night the computer just up and stopped working. We have no idea how to fix it. Which is bad. DH is the computer equivalent of the guys in the 50s who would tinker with cars all the time. He can rebuild laptops, even. But it looks like either the motherboard is fried or the heat sink is destroyed, or both, or neither. In any case, we can't get it to load. And that's bad, since it has a lot of important things on it. Luckily not my writing. My laptop, such as it is, is the only working computer in the house. Sigh. This is just not the time to deal with this. I feel like Ron: "Why is everything I own rubbish?"

At least it's Friday and tomorrow we can sleep in, provided our kids let us. Or at least, we don't have to drag anyone anywhere. I'm sort of looking forward to that. Have a great weekend, everyone, and good luck to all the NaNo writers!


[info]jberkj in [info]10_ers

Friday Buzz!

It's Friday already? Where did this week go? Craziness. So who has heard 10er buzz this week? Please post in comments!

I heard two cool things to get us started:
(1) A very nice mention of Jenn Hubbard's THE SECRET YEAR (5 stars!) on the Story Siren:
http://www.thestorysiren.com/2009/11/books-that-rock-and-should-be-on-your.html

(2) A WoW write-up of THE ABSOLUTE VALUE OF -1 by Steve Brezenoff ("it sounds really awesome!") on The Frenetic Reader:
http://freneticreader.blogspot.com/2009/11/waiting-on-wednesday-43.html

What else? I know there's lots of good buzz out there!

[info]patesden

Freedom, Booyah! and Bats


My husband left at midnight for his yearly Canadian vacation. Yay! I have eight days of writing freedom. Well, I still have my normal job to do, but no worrying about dinner or staying quiet because he goes to bed early--lots of loud music and tea. Best yet, I finished an updated outline and now have a final outline for the last chapters of SAH.

By the way, I used to think I liked bats, but the last chapter I wrote made me realize how uncomfortable they make me.

Here's a tease:

Quickly, Ella pointed the MagLite's beam down the passageway to double check that she hadn’t missed anything. She scanned the walls for paintings, only dark soot, dripping ground water and drops of gray slime. She shone it upward. Bats!

 The ceiling was crawling with them. Hundreds, maybe thousands. The freaking bat mother lode! How had she missed them when she came in? Nick obviously hadn’t.

As if in response to her panic, the bats began to squeal and screech. They writhed faster and faster. Wings snapped open and in an instant they were in the air, circling and dipping.

Ella dashed for the rubble pile. She grabbed a solid hand hold, readying to climb. She glanced up. Most of the bats were flying around near the ceiling. If she started climbing, she’d be in the thick of them before she reached the gap. But if she didn’t she’d never get out.

 

At 56,000 words of what used to be 65,000 and now looks like it is going to run a bit longer.

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