I am on Vacation

Thank you, my dearest Bloggie Friends, for being loyal.

I'm taking a well-deserved vacation from all my obsessions so that my kids will remember who I am.

I will miss you guys very much. I'll be back after New Year's Day.

Please go visit my beautiful and wondrous friend, Deirdra Coppel. She is interviewing me today!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

XoXoXoXo

photos found at Photobucket.com

Disaster at Open Mic Night!

Goblins slithered from the screen and danced around and around my shoulders spitting and taunting and jeering. It was too late for me to take cover. Everyone was watching and I was reading.

What? I didn't know I had so much detail and similar sentence structures within the same paragraph. How embarrassing! I've been working SO hard on this book for the past year. *Sigh*

I sat down, blushing at the applause I'm sure I didn't deserve. Well, for effort maybe.

I have to admit that I was disappointed in myself. I thought this: What? I've been so carefully weighing each and every paragraph. Sentence. Word. How? How can this happen? I was discouraged.

The good news is that the host told me that all of it was very well-written. It would be hard to choose which of the detail to file for another book and which to keep for this one.

Though I'm a bit discouraged now, I know what to do. I won't go back and fix what I found, but I'll keep plodding along and send some focus questions for my beta readers. (I'll post those   ).

How do you deal with goblin surprises?




Photo found at Photobucket.comEdit Posts

Just 2 Things . . .!

There are two things I've learned from a course that I'm taking to help cut down on information dumping, back story, extra words, phrases, scenes or even chapters (or whatever else you can include in this list).

Ask yourself this as you edit:


1. Does it strengthen the character?

2. Does it pull the story forward?





What's in your toolbox?


painting found at Photobucket.com

My Guest, Anastasia V. Pergakis

Hello! Thanks Elizabeth so much for having me today! I feel so honored that you asked me to blog here.

Anyway, when Elizabeth first me to guest blog for her, I asked her what she wanted me to write about. She sent me this –

I would love to know what you're currently working on. Is it finished? Do you love the characters? Do they call you all the time? Are you done with your edits and when are you planning to submit? What's the hardest part of this book? Do you plan to write other books? What genres do you like? I guess about anything that strikes your writerly fancies. Stuff that inspires readers to write. :D

Lots of questions! I’ll try to answer them all without making this post too long and leave a little inspiration for my fellow writers.

Keyhole Blogfest is here!

The brilliant Madeleine Maddocks is holding a guess-and-tell Blogfest. She says:

"Describe a person's living space in no more than 500 words so that we can vividly imagine the absent person.

Then guess from the descriptions posted who lives in a room like this."





Mounds of paper scattered as the salty breeze whispered through the curtains. A billowy quill fluttered before settling into a standstill. Beside that, droned a partially closed laptop. Its quiet whir vibrated lightly across the oak-grained surface of the Elizabethan writing desk. Steam curled lazily when the breeze silenced, a mug of coffee staining the surface.

The swivel chair--a contrast in centuries to its oaken companion--faced a blue vista of sighing waves where an old easel resided. On it, sat an oil rendition of royal hues from deep rose to dancing purples over the ocean deep. A collection of brushes angled into several directions in a rusted can, old paint a thin coat beneath each tuft.

In the sandy distance, a chair reclined. A place of renewal, a place of meditation, a place of awareness.

------------------

Let's go read the others' entries, just click on button below. ;)



Who do you think would live in a place like this? Please leave your answer in the comments (I will reveal the absent person on Sunday's post)!

Thanks for visiting, have a great weekend!

Fantastic Friday Writers!

How do I connect with my main character on a personal level?

I do just about anything that comes to mind to connect with my imagined babies. From keeping track of their vital statistics and psychic evaluation to mug shots and conversing. You can imagine what a shrink would say to me after seeing the many lives I lead? O.o

Here are some mug to full body shots of a few of my main characters that I drew/or found photos of so that I can draw closer to each one. Enjoy!

(lol, I'm not too fond of Alex's portrait, either, they look too cartoonish, a rather POOR attempt of drawing them. Ugh...)

*sigh* He's more like it. Meet Eros,
aka cupid, Aphrodite's son,
from my YA urban fantasy Romance, Eros.

This is Pentulla from my adult high fantasy novel, Tragic Innocence.
She comes to terms with her tragic past and resolves to right it.
(I probably need to rethink the title.)

Crow is a well-respected warrior, also from Tragic Innocence.

Spring Brook is a jealous side-character that plays
a very important and surprising role in Tragic Innocence.

Aldrek from Khandra's Mists, an adult 10th century read.
He is prince of his nation, determined to conquer his enemy.

Athikah is Aldrek's enemy queen. Yes, there is romance
in this novel, but it's a quiet element in my book.

Jaed and Dominic from Kill me Softly paranormal romance.
The ending scene of a novel I have yet to complete!
(My poor attempt at water color, oy.)

Meet Chengral. He's from a distant planet, commissioned by his
beloved queen and lover to slay their colony here on Earth during
the Viking era. This is an adult read with violence and romance woven through.
No, it's not a violent romance. ;)
The darkest book I've written.
I tagged it with a working title called Chengral.

Morgan Taylor. Or better yet known as Moggie
from my YA contemporary romance novel,
Rock Star. Yes, he does look a LOT like Michael Praed--tee hee!
;)

One of the most stimulating ways I've ever connected with an MC was through a chatline with my friend, Megan. I "slipped" into Moggie's head. He took over my body and chatted with Megan's main character without shame.

Whoooo! It was quite the experience. Talk about multi-personality disorder. Lol. I felt his emotions as Megan's MC provoked him with touchy questions.

I became him. It was A-mazing.


How do you connect with your characters on a personal level?
Would your MC like a chat session with mine? Leave a comment and let me know.

Dec. 17, 2010:
Our next topic of discussion: What do you put into your character bible?

See what Fantastic Friday Writers have to say about their characters!

uPdAtE!!! The sweet Michelle Merrill interviewed me on her blog, please drop by and say hi!

On Self-Critiquing

Howdy bloggie friends!



This post appeared on Christine Bryant's blog October 1st and I thought to repost for those who missed it.



This is on my editing secrets—I’ve had friends tell me that it’s crazy, but it works for me! It’s a process I’ve picked up from classes, workshops, self-help books, critique groups and books on writing.