What an editor wants in a writer

I stumbled upon this blog today. As an author who is inspiring to be published, and for those of you out there like me, it's appropriate to take a minute and reflect on what an editor wants. Of course they want someone who can write well, but what about the social niceties of the business? We don't often hear about that.

Editorial Ass: What Makes a Dream Author

I should probably call this blog... If you liked Twilight you might also like... But I won't.

It's been awhile since I've posted about the books I like to read, YA Fantasy in particular. YA Fantasy, and Urban Fantasy specifically, have become quite popular of late and my previous blog with series I like to read has received many hits, so I figured I'd update it a bit.


Melissa De La Cruz: The Blue Bloods:

The basics: Set in New York City, in this world the vampires are high class socialites--models, musicians, artists, etc. The series follows Schuyler Van Alen, a quirky halfblood vampire from a family of dwindling riches, who is more than what she appears.

My take: A fun world to live in (who doesn't want to read about rich beautiful people?) and explains why models are skinny and creativity and success tends to run in the family. I find Schuyler endearing and down to earth.

The Books:

1. Blue Bloods
2. Masquerade
3. Revelations
4. The Van Alen Legacy (which I have yet to read because it just came out on the 6th!!!!)

PC and Kristin Cast: House of Night:

The basics: Set in Tulsa, OK, not a place you'd figure would have a school for vampyres, but it does, it has the House of Night. This series follows Zoey Redbird, a strong female character from a conservative family. In this series, vampyres are "marked" during their teens. They are still human at the time and are then sent to a vampyre school to learn about what they will become. Zoey's immediate family basically disowns her and she is left at the school with her changing body and lifestyle to figure out on her own--not to mention that she turns out a little bit differently than the other vampyres about to be changed.

My take: Great series written by PC and her daughter. Great characterization, plots, plenty of hot guys to drool over and bitchy chicks to hate... sounds like high school right? Right, but it's better because we have vampires, magic and a whole supernatural world to learn about!

The Books:

1. Marked
2. Betrayed
3. Chosen
4. Untamed
5. Hunted
6. Tempted (Coming out 10-27-09)

Cassandra Clare: The Mortal Instruments

The basics: Also set in New York City, Clary Fray sees something she isn't supposed to see--a murder. The only problem is that no one else saw it, despite the crowded venue... Why? Because Clary is special, she can see demons. She is a Shadowhunter, she just doesn't know it yet. This world is comprised of humans, faeries, downworlders and the supernatural version of police--the Shadowhunters. Something attacks Clary's mom and the only person she can turn to for help is the murderer... or is he?

My take: A great world to live in, full of twists on stories and legends, my fave. I like the concept of magic in this world and that magic doesn't equate to being open minded, but boy, we wish it did, don't we?

The Books:

1. City of Bones
2. City of Ashes.
3. City of Glass


In conclusion: That's it for now folks. There are tons more that I enjoy, but that concludes my foray into YA Urban Fantasy for the night. If there are others that aren't listed here or in my other blog post of a similar nature: Ya-fantasy-thoughts-and-recommendations make sure to comment! Not only do I need to know about these great books, but so do my readers!

Video: LOST meets Twilight and... well and a little of everything else too! (Come on, it's LOST, like it's supposed to make any sense!)

Short but sweet

No, we aren't talking about me. Am I short? Yes. Sweet? Nope, more like walking plague at the moment. I woke up this morning feeling quite ill. I thought it was perhaps the rum and diets, or the strange shot someone bought for me, or perhaps even the jungle juice after the smoky bar closed but nope it's the plague. This plague has given me a new Indian name. I shall now be called Forever Running Nose.

So will this bog be stellar? Probably not. My dad mentioned to me that High Def channels are wonderful. I countered with, not if you have a Low Def brain. So I'm operating on Eco Friendly mode and all you Greenies out there will love me for it.

What will I blog about today?

Initially I was going to blog about Ghostwriting, as a recent opportunity has presented itself to me. However, I really don't have the brain power to extrapolate all I wanted from the copious amounts of websites dedicated to the matter. So instead, I will link a few here and perhaps over the next few weeks I will share my knowledge with you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghostwriter

http://grumpyoldbookman.blogspot.com/2006/06/ghostwriting-for-beginners.html

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111511780

http://writingnonfiction.suite101.com/article.cfm/how_to_ghostwrite

http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Get-Started-As-a-Ghostwriter&id=391587

http://www.bookcatcher.com/articles/seven-useful-tips-to-ghostwrite-books.php

If anyone out there has tips on ghostwriting, by all means shoot them to me in a comment for all to read.

New blog feature for writers and a recap of my most recent travels

I'm instituting a new section of my weekly blog. I will be blogging a weekly writing tool. It could be a thought provoking question, a prompt, or other various writing exercises.

The prompts I like the best are ones that are a sentence or two to be included in your answer to the prompt. Feel free to change words around, use it anywhere in the prompt, or forgo its use and simply use it as the inspiration to get you writing. I'd love to see the response, so make sure to comment them to me! Also... if the amount of response is good, I will turn my prompts into a challenge and provide either weekly or monthly prizes to the winner, so spread the word!

September 23rd Prompt:

He strode across the lawn with one purpose, delighting half of the onlookers, and horrifying the rest.

All genres welcome!

Now... onto my travels...

Some of you may not be aware that I have been traveling on and off since February. I was laid off in January and have been jet setting ever since.

Feb-March: Oregon
March: Cincinnati and Manteca California
April: Michigan (home state) sick as a dog with H1N1 I swear!
May-July: California: Manteca, Sacramento, San Francisco, Santa Cruz
July: Texas, Oklahoma
August: Michigan
September: Chicago, IL and Colorado/ Denver, Boulder and Estes Park

Here are a few perks of my trips!

Silver Falls, OR: How postcard-esque is that! I hiked 4 miles around Silver Falls up and down throughout the gorges and peaks of the region. This was the first waterfall I saw that day--not the tallest or the biggest, but I had to go out of my way to see it and am damn happy I did. It houses faeries, I'm sure of it.

And now for a different part of my Oregon trip. I love guns and a friend from Eugene, OR was happy to take me out to the middle of nowhere to shoot his handgun. He took pictures the whole time and actually caught a muzzle flash! How cool is that! This pic ladies and gents has not been altered, that is truly what a muzzle flash looks like. Oh yeah, and you get to see my kick ass gun shooting stance.

This is a picture from the tallest point in Oklahoma. This is where the deer and the antelope (read prairie dogs) roam. Home of buffalo and long horn steers. This is the range and many people call it home. I went out there twice in the span of a week. The next picture will explain why.




AHHH! Meers! Possibly the best burger I've ever had. This place is literally in the middle of NOWHERE in Oklahoma. You drive down a windy road, make a turn, and slam on your brakes because people are walking out in front of your car to go to this place. Some of the open spaces in the previous picture are Meer's Long Horn Steer grazing territory. This restaurant was voted to have one of the top 10 burgers in the nation by family owned businesses. It has been open decades (getting close to a century now.) Not only are their Meer's burgers delicious, but their peach cobbler and homemade ice cream is to die for. The restuarant started as a smallish building, and they added several shanty's onto it. Makes for an uneven floor, but I'm happy they added space! As a recovering vegetarian of 10 years, I stared at the Long Horn Steer head mounted on the wall, took a bite of my burger, and thanked it for having such a delicious cousin.



Estes Park, Colorado: Home of the rock formation Twin Owls. This is not the most scenic picture I took. Come on, I was in the Rocky Mountains people, majesty abounds in that place. But we've all seen picture after picture of the Rockies (and yes, it really does look that amazing) But the Twin Owls kind of stole my heart. They truly do look like owls all huddled up to one another and I'm a sucker for rock formations that look like things.


You may notice I don't have any pictures of California. I didn't have my digital camera and didn't have a chance to do much site seeing there due to other responsibilities. However, I did manage to make it out to Santa Cruz--talk about the epitome of a beach boardwalk town. It took us 2 hours to make it around the town twice (a small town) just to find parking. At one point we were on Beach Blvd and people walked,rollerbladed, meandered, skateboarded in front of us for 20 mins while we stood still. Santa Cruz, or Santa Carla as some of you may recognize it from The Lost Boys...

I can see the allure of trains

Currently I am riding on a train to Chicago from my hometown of Kalamazoo. It is only a two and a half hour ride, but here I am, actually going somewhere and I'm able to write. With my back to the engine, I only see where we've been. It's strange for a control freak who has a gun fighter mentality—back to the wall/corner and front toward the door—to like having their back to their destination, yet I find I trust the train. They are a sturdy mode of transportation and with the exception of the movie, The Darjeeling Limited, they can't get lost. They have a set destination, a clear path to their goal. I could use a little of that in my life.

It doesn't make sense in the realm of safety, but I like seeing where we've been instead of where we're going. I know that what I see is safe. Nothing extraordinary is going to pass my view until it passes that of others. I may hear the child behind me, who is playing his video game on low volume, gasp with excitement should something of interest pass us by, but I don't. Instead I hear the horn of the train, the shifting of the rails and my fingers pecking on the keys. The pecking could be my favorite noise, but I have to admit, the horn adds a nice touch.

I should travel like this more often. Trains are a forgotten mode of transportation here in the United States. Maybe that is why I feel inspired. I feel like I could be in Europe or traveling somewhere completely new. I've been on a train before, but I am a virgin train writer. I am a road tripper. I like to drive places, but I may have to reconsider.

A train is like the synapse in the brain. It is the electrical conduit that takes people from one place to another. This in-between space is also where creativity flows, at least for me. It flows through the cracks and you only gain access to it by having a few cracks in your exterior. A train only lets on passengers in certain spots. Creativity is much like that, make sure your frame of mind it set to embrace the creativity.

I find a closed mind has very little creativity. Although to be fair, I think a completely open mind would leave one a little aimless—being constantly bombarded with ideas with no direction. Humans need limitations. At least I do. I need to have a goal, even if it is a hazy blob in the far future. I lay down my tracks toward the destination and I travel as far as I lay. The more planning I do and the more consistently I write, the more track I have and the farther I travel, the more defined my goal becomes. Sometimes I lay my track a little off course and I have to steer it back. Sometimes I run into a hill and have to decide to take the extra time and effort to plow through it, or if going around it will be better. Your track, very much like a train, has to be purposeful. You can't lay bits and pieces of track all over the place and expect to get anywhere. A clear set path, albeit sometimes curvy, is the way to go.

A clear path however doesn't mean to shoot straight through to the end. A train, much like your creativity needs to be fueled. A train needs passengers to go someplace. So stop every once in awhile and pick up a few creativity passengers of your own. Let them ride as long as they want, but give them a chance to hop off when they've gone as far as they want to. Feed them in the cafe car and let them be the conductor for awhile, especially if it is their first train ride.

About the video:

I couldn't find any videos I liked about trains, so I moved into looking into ones about brain synapses, but honestly, the animation of how they work is flat out perverse. So then I decided to look up videos about being creative. I came up with this... and it is perverse... or is it?

Finding yourself is overrated

I'm going to get a little new agey on all of you here. Prepare yourself as you deem necessary.

I am a Virgo. Yup, the Eternal Virgin, which can basically mean we have a giant rod stuck up our asses from time to time. However... there is something else that softens this critical quality that we Virgos have. It's called being a mutable sign.

Per Wikipedia:

In astrology, the mutable signs (also called common signs or bicorporal or double-bodied signs) are a subgroup of the zodiac. They are Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces. The mutable signs straddle two temperate zone seasons, encompassing an inherent duality in its symbolism.

In the tropical zodiac, mutable signs coincide with the times of change in the seasons. They are associated with change and versatility. Individuals born under the four mutable quality signs are thought to be adaptable, impressionable, sharp, sympathetic, communicative, resourceful and restless, with a gift for seeing both sides of a situation at the same time and an immense desire for knowledge, variety and new ideas. They supposedly adapt very well to new situations, possess much flexibility, seldom have any particular agenda and are perfectly happy to fill in an assigned role. However, they are also said to be inconsistent, changeable, nervous, indecisive and irresponsible, with a tendency to get wrapped up in tiny particulars. There is also a certain duality associated with all the mutable quality signs.


So what does all the gobbledygook mean? It means that we Virgos tend to take on traits of those around us. In a sense, parts of our own personalities are muted and are replaced with our friends, family members, coworkers etc.

You know those girls in high school that would change what music they listened to or the way they dressed based on the guy they were dating...?? Yeah. It's like that.

Sounds kind of horrible right? Never really being yourself and always being a chameleon to the people around you? Sure it has its moments and I must say that I spent a lot of time trying to figure out who I really was. I spent years hating that I didn't know if I really liked something, or if it was because a friend liked it, or a boyfriend. I constantly questioned myself. The conclusion? This behavior is part of who I am. I definitely have my own tastes, even if it takes me awhile to figure it out. And really, what is so wrong with enjoying something for a time because someone around you enjoys it or because you want to find common ground with someone? Also, I've found that it doesn't apply to those who are closest to me. I don't take on traits of my best friends or my family members. I think I understand them well enough that the curiosity gene in me doesn't activate itself.

There are a lot of pluses to being mutable. We get along with a wide variety of people. We can be quite empathetic. We experience, and truly enjoy varied hobbies, tastes, subject matters etc.

It is particular useful for writing. Writers, fiction writers in particular, have to really get inside someone's head. It's a natural occurrence for those of us who are mutable signs. We spend the vast majority of our lives being parts of other people in order to understand them and relate.

So as a writer I saw that finding yourself is overrated. Finding and understanding other people on the other hand is wildly fascinating and helpful.

Mute Karaoke. Who needs standardized sign language anyway?

A writing critique group: To join or not to join?

I'm torn about whether critique groups are right for me. However, perhaps some of my experiences will help you, as a writer, to make your decision.

Critique groups have done the following for me:

-Clued me in to the mechanics of writing: i.e. my passive writing at times

Not only passive writing, but adding more sensory description, improper sentence structure, grammatical elements, shown me where I can improve my technique or voice.

-Critiquing the work of others is valuable.

It shows you different ways of writing. Seeing the way others write, can help you identify what your style is, and what you like and don't like. It can also help you vary the way you word sentences and your structure. This is invaluable to me as a writer.

-Being around other creative individuals, in particular writing fuels my own creativity.

Whether you're bouncing ideas off one another, or simply inspired by their idea, I find being around other writers fills me up. I enjoy living in a world of words and it's nice to share that with someone, or many people.

My negative experiences with critique groups:

-Getting bogged down with negativity.

Becoming wrapped up in their opinions and preferences instead of what's best for my book.

-Not having readers in my genre.

Urban fantasy has its own jargon and there is a general level of understanding by most readers. Urban fantasy allows for a larger word count and I believe, a slightly more patient reader where mystery is concerned. This doesn't translate well to a mainstream fiction writer.

-Not finding the right mix of people.

I do think that these groups can be quite effective, but I think that the group has to be just the right recipe of people for it to really shine. Personally I have found one reader who is always willing to read my novel as I write it. She is invaluable to me and if I had a whole group of her in a group I'd be there in a second. However I don't.


So my consensus on my experiences? Well I took a break from my group for quite a few months, but I recently joined back up. I do like being around them. For now I am only critiquing their work. I'm not sure the members are right for my work, they don't read my genre and don't particularly like it.

A word of caution: Everyone is entitled to their opinion, however that doesn't make them right. Even if more than one person agrees, their opinion or suggestion may not be right for your book. As a writer you have to have a thick skin, but you also have to have a very clear sense of your story, or it could be all mucked up like a pot of soup with too many cooks. Beware.

This has nothing to do with the blog except that I've been listening to it repeatedly over the last few days as inspiration for my writing. Enjoy!

Fuck you Frog

Okay, let me first point out that this blog in no way discriminates against the French. Lol It, indeed, is truly about frogs--you know the slimey, beady eyed, throat billowing frogs.

Also... this blog is not connected to Fuck you Penguin, nor is it a homage. I am not talking about how cute frogs are, or how they are trying to take over the world... okay I lied about the last part.

They are trying to take over the world ladies and gentlemen. How do I know this, you ask? Well it's simple really.

I was born and raised in Michigan, and I can't recall seeing frogs or toads except a handful of times. Is it possible that perhaps as a precocious young thing, I wasn't quite as observant--sure it's totally possible--HOWEVER (you knew it was coming) As a girl who wasn't too fond of snakes, worms or anything deemed slimy--I would totally remember having seen them around and their ick factor.

Okay so, growing up--nary a toad or frog.

Then I moved to Florida. Frogs weren't that rampant when I lived in a suburb--we had beetles and lizards there. However, then we moved to a swampy area... That is ground zero of the frog invasion... Every morning I'd wake up to little froggy suctiony foot prints on my windows--and a few dried up carcasses in the kitchen--suicide mission for reconnaissance I'm sure.

Back to present day--Michigan: In the last few weeks my mother has had toads invade her car. They crawl in to the part where the door opens by the hinge, and there they lie in wait. You open and door and there they sit--intimidating at first--then you just wait.

I laughed off my mothers paranoia. It was just a toad, come on, how bad could it be?

Then I drove her car.

There I was, minding my own business in the afternoon driving my mom around while we went shopping and voila! A toad appears when I open the door. It can't be, they've only shown up in the morning, and here it is, the middle of the afternoon... and yet there it is. I was okay, until I mom told me to knock it off and leave it in the parking lot.

Then I got to thinking, as I'm wont to do. What if it hops on me when I'm trying to knock it off? (Yes I know, I do have a girly side, but I hide it from myself until it rears its blonde, curly Q'd, pink clad, head in the worst of moments) Or worse, what if it hops in the car and then jumps on me while I driving.

I decide to ignore the toad.

Okay my mom's car is infested with toads--not big deal right? She's recently been on vacation and rained quite a bit there so a few hitched a ride--no biggie.

EXCEPT!!!! When they were on vacation and I housesat; I spotted a frog perched upon a glass decorative ball on a planter on the front steps.

Now.. onto me (we know that's what's most important anyway right? This is MY blog afterall.) The past two times I've driven my van... (Let us pause here so I can set the scene for you... I drive not just any van, but a giant conversion van. A 1995, white Ford Econoline 150--complete with queen size bed, dvd player, tv, party lights and yes... a dust buster.) A frog and/or toad has hopped on to my windshield and conveniently (I say it's planned) stayed right below the line of wipers.

Two different frog/toads, same spot. I suspect a frog language transmitter exists in the spot on my van where the windshield wiper fluid comes out. The fluid is blue, and everyone knows blue is a very good conductor.

Now here, ladies and gentlemen, is where I point out our weakness-our MAIN WEAKNESS-- where the frogs are concerned.

They are not bugs. They won't just crunch and lie on the ground in a neat little pile when you step on them--no--they squish. There may even be some sliding around on the flesh, guts and blood should you accidentally step on them. We, as humans, really don't want to get so messy.

I know, for if the toad and/or frog had been in the sights of my windshield wipers, I don't know that I would've used 'em.

We are doomed.

Like all good writers I am susceptible to peer pressure

Okay the whole first half of the title is a big fat lie. I have no right to lump myself in with the greats and I have no idea what they are susceptible to, but it sounded good, didn't it?

My BFF extraordinaire and coincidentally the Cheerleader of Doom (CoD)decided it would be best for her to blog on a specified day so that she can amass a readership. Brilliant idea I think. Unfortunately, brilliant ideas mean that I must follow them too.

I know it's a great idea and I know I should do it, but damn it I'm just afraid of commitment lately (can that apply to blogging?) I mean really, how can you schedule creativity... (Yes I know I am trying too hard)

My vain attempts at talking my way out of this aren't working.

Seeing as I'm blogging right now and it's Wednesday I guess this is as good of a day as any. However, I will preface my future blogs by saying this: My definition of Wednesday is not the standard definition. I have until approximately 5 am on Thursday to blog and it still counts, seeing as that is when I typically go to bed. So I guess check on Thursdays then lol

See you in a week! Oh and don't forget to check out the CoD's blog. http://cheerleaderofdoom.blogspot.com/ She blogs on Fridays!

This needs to be shared and celebrated

I don't have a whole lot to say, as this piece speaks for itself. I will say this art form is incredible and I am quite inspired by this. It is profound. It makes me feel full and yet lacking at the same time. I feel happy, yet want to cry as well. To me, conflicting feelings are always a good indicator of amazing creation.

I salute you, Kseniya Simonova.

Talents I wished I posessed

I'd like to believe that with practice and patience, all things are possible. But perhaps that isn't the case? Or perhaps I just don't have the damned patience to make it possible?

While my patience with others is limited, patience with myself is downright nonexistent.

I'd love to be able to not only play a musical instrument, but compose music as well. And yet I wasn't born a prodigy, therefore I do not pursue it.

I've love to tool around on a skateboard and do tricks. And yet, here I am, uncoordinated.

I'd love to sing and have a beautiful voice that even sounds nice without accompaniment. Yet, I'm afraid I may have my father's tone-deafness and have never really pursued it.

I'd love to dance and be able to express emotions with every part of my body. And yet, here I am... out of shape and inflexible.

Are some of these things possible--sure... but maybe if I were a different person. Oh but you think that with practice I could do these things.

Perhaps you are right, but I will never practice. My self confidence, or lack thereof--or perhaps we should call it pride, won't let me. It won't let me fail--and that means falling, hitting a bad note, or not finding the right key.

I will say that I am getting better at opening myself up to embarrassment. Or at least that's how I think of it... or at least how I used to. I don't see showing the world my faults quite as embarrassment anymore. However, I'm not willing to show the world ALL my faults yet.

I am still unwilling to fall, to hit the wrong note, or to dedicate the time needed to play an instrument. Physical and creative faults are still too close to home to expose to the world.

I have made progress. I am willing to admit I am wrong. I am more fully able to say I'm sorry.

I'd say these are big ones to have conquered. They deal with interaction with others. Being a loner, sometimes I forget the need for other people, but I do need them--desperately in fact. So having managed to make fun of myself, to admit I'm wrong, or that I simply don't know the answer is a big step. And this step makes it easier for me to have something I desperately need.

Besides... perhaps writing is the only outlet or hobby I need right now. Everything else would just take time away from it, no?

Okay here is a motivational speaker. I'm sure this is helpful and says good things, but I can't get over how open his eyes are and how high his eyebrows stay all the time. Let's not even talk about him teleporting across the screen with youtube magic.

Cruel or funny?

Should the chance at a joke overpower my empathy? Probably not, but it did today...luckily my mom is used to it.

Sometimes I'm such a brat.

My dad went to take out the dog on a commercial break. I was eating a Dove chocolate... you know the kind with sweet little messages inside? My message said "Share a chocolate moment with someone you love."

I read it aloud, then passed a chocolate to my mom, who smiled.

Then I said "Give that to Dad when he gets back."

My mom's face went to an expression we like to call the "Russian School Teacher Face" I'm sure you can imagine a strict Russian woman--now make her a hard assed school teacher... yeah that's the face.

My mother calmly placed the chocolate over where my dad was sitting. I laughed and told her of course I was kidding and tried to hand her another chocolate. She'd have nothing to do with it. It took a second to convince her to take it but she did.

However, she wouldn't touch it with her hand. No, she extended her cane (Yes I'm even more evil cause now I'm being mean to my mother who has a cane) and I had to balance the candy on the cane, then she had to keep it balanced while she brought it back to herself... All without looking at me.

Then my dad comes in, she tells him the story and he laughs at what I did. He says "She was just happy she didn't have to take the dog out."

Ugh. My poor mother. My Papa and I are two peas in a pod.

Trouble writing the troublesome

I'm having a hard time writing a scene. It's an action sequence which normally I don't have a problem with--however something bad is happening to Samantha in this scene. Maybe that's why I can't see it in my head...because I don't want to? Maybe I can't/won't/don't want to put myself in her place?

As a filmmaker, I'm quite visual. I see everything first before I write it on the page. I can't see this. I can't see the movement, the blocking--what will make it the most suspenseful? Nothing is coming to me. This is frustrating. Before when something like this happened I was able to write the action and throw in the emotion later, but that isn't working. The scene in blind to me.

All I see are the treetops swaying in the swamp. Nothing else is happening. I know that all kinds of horrific scary things are happening on the ground, or will be shortly, but those damn trees just keep swaying and nothing else happens. It's like I'm a DVD with a big ole scratch on it. I'm stuck on a scene. You can move to the next scene just fine, but you'll miss that important scene which explains all the ones after it.

I don't think I can write the scene after without knowing what exactly happens in this one first. I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place.

This scene is rather new to me. I just came up with it a week ago or so. Maybe it needs time to percolate in my brain pan a bit more.

I go through this phase occasionally

Every few years or so I get this urge to contact old friends. It tends to be different friends every time. I wonder what stars align, hormones rise, or parts of my brain start working again to make this happen.

While Facebook is potentially the worst time suck in the world, it is making keeping tabs on old friends and reconnecting that much easier. So while it forces me to plant raspberries on Farm Town every 2 hours (Gotta be a good capitalist and get that mansion!!), it also enables me to scratch this itch.

In this case I am reconnecting with someone I haven't seen in 11 years. Unfortunately it's been longer than that since we've been friends. I had a habit of being surly in high school and I'm sure that affected a lot of my friendships.

Okay, now onto the funny video. I couldn't stop laughing at the video from yesterday, but today's could be even better.

Run for your lives...

The Gauntlet has been laid in front of me.

Damn, good news doesn't last long. Here I am, thinking I'm being all good and shit by blogging (it wasn't almost two years since my last blog ya know--hint hint) but that wasn't good enough. NOW I have to blog everyday. (no promises, that was sarcasm)

You see ladies and gentleman, I have someone who is my whip cracker. I am not the whipping boy, no, I deserve the whippings, the beating, the verbal assaults--yes even the name calling. I entrusted them with a job to get my butt in gear.

Don't ya hate when that comes back to bite ya?

So this is my blog today. I blog to honor the whip crackers behind every author. Those who are willing to take a little of their own backlash for the greater good. Those who are willing to don pink pom poms, short skirts and the garish striped socks.

Of course I'm speaking of the Cheerleader of Doom.

Check her out, support her, because she supports me. Or just go over there and give her a hard time for me. Keeps things interesting. :-P

LMAO....

Good News!

It hasn't been a whole year since I last posted. It's only been 7 months and some change. Oh happy day!

Some of you keen, savvy readers may have wondered what the last post, the crossroads was about. Some of you may believe that is has to do with something personal, decisions I need to make in my life... well duh.

So what was it about and what path did I choose? The answer: I haven't yet. I'm still at that crossroad and I have a feeling that standing here too long is rather like staring at a word for too long--it loses all its meaning and goes blurry. Since the last post I've had an almost infinite amount of possibilities present themselves to me. I hate to admit it, but I'm not sure I like that the world has infinite possibilities. What happened to the good ole days when a woman's options were limited? (A joke people haha.)

Okay so the crossroads I was/am at is this: I was laid off in January. This was a good thing. I wasn't happy in that job and realized that a corporate setting isn't good for my inner Chi. :-P

So being jobless in the worst state for joblessness in the union--Michigan, is a tough place to be. What did I decide to do about it? Why I decided to travel the country. I've been to the west coast three times, been to Texas, Ohio, Oklahoma twice and am now back in Michigan. Let's not even talk about how many airports I've been to in the last six months.

I've found that travel suites me very well, but it'd be even better if I had my own space at these places--so the conclusion? I'm going to finish writing my damn books, sell them for exorbitant prices and travel the world in style.

Ahh but what does that entail? A helleva lotta work is what.

Update on the book(s): Book 1 is being completely rewritten. I've scrapped the first version (while enjoyable I'm a different writer now and rewriting proved impossible.) So far I am thirty two pages deep and am looking forward to wading through the swamp that is my brain and finding more pages.

I've also started to twitter. @sandratuttle for all of those tweeple who tweet out there. Find me!

I've been in steady communication with my CoD (Cheerleader of Doom, BFF and muse extraordinaire) and this has helped me with my writing and brainstorming greatly.

But what about food? Bills? What about money? Ahh yes, the sensible, rational people out there want to know what I'm doing in "real life" to survive. Well I'm on unemployment and am looking at several options. Some include jobs, but not jobs that make any money. I'm looking at Americorps and the Peace Corps. Others involve me going back to school. I'm currently looking at Library Science or Educational Technology, but honestly, that could change at any moment.

So that's the update on me.

While you wait for my next edge of your seat blog you can watch this great dance with a kick ass song.

State of Flux

A woman comes to a crossroads, but isn't a perpendicular four way intersection. No roads here travel straight with clear directions. No, even the road behind her is skewed with twists, turns, hills, valleys, over hanging low branches, logs to jump over... she can't see where she's been and sometimes she feels like she was never there at all.

There is only the present, only the crossroads. The crossroads that has numerous options, and many that veer off the main ones. Which one to choose? No path is clear, and none stand directly in front of her.

Should she choose the one with the hill first? Should she start on a difficult trek and know that eventually the hill will peak and then it will be easy sailing? Or perhaps the hill ends on a cliff...

Does she take the lane with fog, obscuring all but a pretty daffodil glowing beacon yellow in the mist?

There is one that goes straight as far as the eye can see, but it appears to end before it should. The horizon lays beyond the end of the road. What does that mean? Is it a short path? Will she have to back track? Is there something at the end or does it veer like the others? If something does lie at the end of it, what kind of something is it?

There is a rocky path, she can see it twisting and turning and believes she sees another portion of it further up the mountain it circles. Up top a mountain lion screams and pounces into the thicket. Shivers zip up her back and down her arms to the tips of her fingers. She dances the tips on her jeans to mimic the tingling after it has fled.

The way closest to dead ahead, but slightly off center appears to be down hill, a sharp decline for she can only see a small portion of the path. The way looks clear and smooth, but past experience has told her that smooth sailing isn't always such, and the downhill doesn't reap the best reward.

What direction does she pick? Even as the writer of this, I don't know, but I suspect the rocky path with the mountain lion. Why? Well perhaps because at least one of the dangerous is known... but I think it is more likely that she actually felt something when looking at that path. Shivers ran up her spine--whether they were fear or excitement I don't know, the two are closely linked, but this woman at the crossroads doesn't want apathy. She likes adventure, a challenge, but she also wants to feel--to live, and feeling is living to her, even if its bad... it's an experience that she wants, and she wants it all.

Update on Sandra Tuttle

Well I haven't been here in quite awhile have I?

I got a new job that requires quite a bit of my time, I was in my sister's wedding in another state, I was the copy writer/web designer for a local political candidate and I moved (which required painting 5 rooms of the house after a full day of work) Yeah, I've been busy.

I'm hoping that things have settled down enough in my life to allow me to get back to blogging and more importantly writing.

About writing: I've made an executive decision about Book 1 of the Just Sam series. I've decided to scrap it and completely rewrite the thing from scratch. Why? I write differently than I did two years ago. My voice has changed and editing the piece is making it worse not better. So, when life settles down and I get back to writing... I'll be looking at a blank page. Wish me luck!

Inspiration: the elusive mistress *snort*

Inspiration:

Where can it come from?

To be honest, just about anywhere, it really depends upon your frame of mind at the time.

For instance, right now, I’m feeling pretty crappy. I’ve got a lot of decisions I need to make, none of which are fun, and am feeling a bit stuck in a place I don’t want to be stuck in. I know I have to make hard decisions that will make me feel crappy, but ultimately, will be better for me in the long run. I’ve got a headache, a tummy ache and I’m generally moody… and yet, here I am blogging about inspiration of all things!!!

Basically, inspiration can come from your hardships. That’s where I’m at right now. I’m feeling a little out of control of my life, and a little too in control of my life at the same time, if you know what I mean. I’m out of control because I can’t help but feel what I’m feeling (and I don’t like it), but I know I’m too in control because I have a decision to make that will change things… and when it’s all said and done, I will only have myself to blame if it doesn’t work out well. So here, I am, feeling like a chewed up piece of gum on a homeless guy’s shoe and yet, I’m talking about how other people can find ideas. I’m turning my bad time into, hopefully, someone else’s good time… or even an okay time would be fine with me ;)

Anyway, back to the topic at hand, because I really didn’t want to blog about how crappy of a night I’m having.

How did I decide to write this blog? That’d be inspiration right? Well, first of all, I was bound and determined to get out of my bad mood. So I thought about all the things I like to do and where I’ve found a sense of peace before. I read a book and took a bath, but the book ended—too soon for my tastes—and not necessarily on a good note. So bad mood—still there. And the book really ruined my bath, although normally they calm me down. However, the bath was probably not a good option because our house was pretty hot and no one wants to take a hot bath when they are already hot. So basically, the bath idea and book idea… yeah not good for me tonight.

However, that doesn’t mean that they will forever not work for me—it just means that tonight I’ll have to work a little bit harder to get my mind off my problems.

Next I thought about giving my mom a big hug and just letting her hold me and tell me everything will be fine, and how strong of a woman I am. (Although, yeah, inside every strong woman is a daughter who sometimes just needs a hug from her mom) But when I got out of the bath, she was asleep. No big surprise really, it was after midnight. I tried to talk to my dad, but he’d fallen asleep in the chair and wasn’t much help in his groggy state.

Okay then, what next? Well I tried to journal my feelings. Normally this brings up a whole bunch of emotional shit I don’t want to deal with, but hey, I was feeling kinda desperate and maybe I needed a little emotional kick in the pants, right? So I journaled about how I was feeling, and I totally expected shit to come out sideways, or to come upon some revelation that would make me feel better. It didn’t work. I did however, journal about how being outside helps me clear my head and how normally being near water helps as well. But the bath didn’t work and it was after midnight. So where was I supposed to go? I had no idea. I figured I needed to clear my head though, so I turned off the fan in my room and listened to the crickets outside. It was real nice at first, until an insane humming noise filled my ear. Somewhere, in my room was a mosquito. Shit, it was warm enough for them to be outside as well.

I tried swatting the mosquito but it, being a cunning fellow, clearly high evolved, stayed near the ceiling where I couldn’t easily reach it.

Giving up on the mosquito, I bundled up (even though it was warm outside, I didn’t want to be eaten alive by mosquitoes) and went outside. I looked up at the sky, but the trees here are pretty big and in order to see the sky you have to look straight up. I was getting a stiff neck (to go along with my head ache, sore tummy and tired eyes) so I laid down on the cement of the driveway and just stared at the sky. It didn’t seem to help at first, but eventually the coldness of the cement seeped through my ass, which then turned numb and in turn helped to numb the upset tummy.

I took this opportunity to think about things I could do that would help me feel better. What I needed ladies and gentleman, was inspiration.

Aha! YES! Her ranting blog does have a purpose!

And the fact that I needed inspiration led me to my own inspiration. Perhaps I would write a blog about inspiration and where to find it. I quickly pushed that idea aside and figured it’d be dumb. Then I thought that I should really look at the job section in the newspaper today since I am unhappy with my current employment situation. I figured after that, I could write my goals down and perhaps have a working outline of what I need to do to achieve my goals. Yes, that sounded much more like what I needed to do. So I went inside, grabbed the job section and opened it up. Five minutes later I closed it in frustration. I was clearly over qualified and under qualified for everything. Such is the life of a person with a Bachelor’s degree in something as unpractical as Film Production.

Job seeking made me so frustrated that writing the whole goals thing flew out the window, which left me with one more idea… get my laptop back out and see if anyone is online to chat with.

Alas, there was no one and that left me with blogging about inspiration. In reality, this blog was the best thing I could’ve done for myself right now. Sure my tummy still isn’t feeling the greatest, but I’m blogging, that is something productive. It involves writing… something I need to do more of. It is in a round about way letting me sort out some of my troubles—which is always helpful. It also could help other people.

Inspiration comes from anywhere—you simply have to know where to look, look many places, don’t dismiss anything and let life take you where it may.

You can be inspired in places like me—alone and quiet. Some people like busy places or like to people watch. Some people need to meditate and take from their dreams. Some people smoke pot or take other hallucinogenic drugs. HA! (I do not recommend that)

Basically, anyone can be inspired in any place, but inspiration isn’t enough. Even if you are really inspired it takes a little work. Also, if you are just a little inspired, it takes a lot of work, but that doesn’t make the product any less than the highly inspired one. Anything worth having takes work.

Look at me, I searched high and low for a solution today and nothing worked. What finally worked, was a solution I wasn’t too happy about… blogging about something as cliché as inspiration and how to get it. But alas, it worked out for me and if you read this far, perhaps it’ll work out for you too… because getting this far in my rant shows that you are willing to put in the little extra effort to finish something. Either that or you are really bored, but I prefer to think the former.

This is me seeking inspiration today...

Conquering Self Doubt

Sometimes I just have to trust myself.

There are times when I'm feeling down on myself and that nothing I write is worth the scrap paper it's printed on.

As you can imagine, that mood doesn't help me write one bit. Those are the negative creeping thoughts that are detrimental to my writing.

When those thoughts pop up, I've realized that I need to to take a break and do something completely unrelated to writing. Then, I need to come back at a time when my thoughts are clear and reread something I've written that I haven't touched in awhile.

I did this today. I reread the last bit I wrote of book 2 of my Just Sam series. I am completely immersed in my world and have a big grin on my face. Oh how I adore Samantha and her world. I am quite amazed with myself and my writing.

I pray this doesn't come off as conceited, because it isn't meant to--part of me feels like I didn't even write the parts I read, but I love them even more than I did in the first place. I know I wrote it so maybe I'm not supposed to say how much I like it, but I truly do. I am proud of my accomplishment. I love Sam's world. I hope that I can continue to do the world justice. If my immersion into the world says anything, it says I'm on the right track.

I need to trust that I write for a reason. That all of those countless hours are not for nothing. I am a decent writer--at least of the sort of story I like to read. When doubts creep in, I need to remember days like today--days where I am in love with my characters all over again.