20 Second Words of Wisdom Blog Chain Wrap Up

If you remember, on August 16th I started my very first blog chain. The goal was this:

Pretend you are addressing a crowd of aspiring authors eager to soak in your words of knowledge. The problem is, you've only been given a time slot of five seconds. In one sentence (no more than 20 words), please summarize the most important words of wisdom you can impart.

Everyone did a fantastic job playing the game. No one went over the word count and ever response was unique and informative. No easy feat if you found yourself at the bottom of the chain. In fact, I found this list so useful I wanted to repost all of the answers in one spot for easy reading.

I posted:

"Read as many books in your genre as possible and join a critique group".

Rebecca Knight Posted:

"Take it slow--make sure your writing is the best it can be, then research all you can before querying!"

Kate Kyrus Quinn Posted:

"Hello.* Now forget this writing nonsense and go to dental school.** No?*** Well, then**** prepare***** for an endlessly****** difficult******* battle********."*********

(You'll have to go to her blog to decode all the asterisks)

Amanda Bonilla Posted:

"Edit, edit, edit, and when you're sure your manuscript is polished, edit one more time."

Sandra Ulbrichalmazan Posted:

"Act like a professional writer from the beginning, and keep learning about yourself, other people, and the world."

Kat Harris Posted:

"Read your stories out loud."

Christine Fonseca Posted:

"Strive for authenticity when writing – with your voice, your emotions and your actions. The rest will take care of itself."

Sarah Bromley Posted:

"When you receive a manuscript request, grab your towel and don't panic. Agents are willing to wait while you revise."

Annie Louden Posted:

"Everyone else is writing a book, which means you can, too."

S.B. Clitheroe Posted:

"Get your work out there — your goal is for people to see it anyway — get over your fears!!!"

B.J. Anderson Posted:

"You can't be a writer until you sit down and actually write."

Michelle McLean Posted:

"Write with authority; remove all the "I thinks," "I believes," and "I hopes," from your writing and WRITE WITH CONFIDENCE."

Shaun Hutchinson Posted:

"In order to have life experiences to write about you have to get out there and experience life."

Jill Kemerer Posted:

"Soak up wisdom from veteran authors by joining a writer's group."

The Results

So, I was scared to try it out but I did great!

	792
58
lab.drwicked.com

Awesome website, guys.

Srsly

My Obsession with Bugs

Okay, if you're a regular reader of my blog you already know that I like to hunt for cicada shells. Yesterday, I was introducing my daughter to the game (oddly, she didn't find it as entertaining as I do) when I reached out for a shell and stopped myself. Something about it looked different.



The back wasn't split open. In fact, as I watched, it split open before my eyes. I tried to catch the miracle on my phone camera, but it didn't turn out that well. Phooey.

In all my years of cicada shell hunting I'd never seen an actual cicada - they spend most of their lives underground - let alone one coming out of it's shell. So I watched, mesmerized as the little guy fought his way to freedom.







As I watched, I tried to figure out what it was about these little buggers that fascinates me so. I decided it was the skin shedding. Can you even imagine how good that must feel? Things are so tight, it's hard to breathe, hard to move, then something snaps and...you're free!

Wait, I bet you have felt that way before - when you finished writing your first book, right? It's such a difficult process. You plod along, struggling, every step forward is more difficult than the one before when *Riiiiip* You're done!

You stretch your wings and you fly. It's exhilarating.

But it's not over.

Just like the cicada, our skin must thicken again with the hunt for the agent. And again with the quest for a publishing contract. And again with your book's release.

All in all, I can relate to these little guys. I sympathize with their plight because it mirrors my own as I'm sure it mirrors yours as well.

Here's hoping we can all shed our skins.

Writing: Not for the Faint at Heart!

SQUEEEEEEEEE! I just stumbled upon what I think is one of the coolest websites around: Dr. Wicked's Write or Die

What is Write or Die?

I pulled this quote from the website:

Write or Die is a web application that encourages writing by punishing the tendency to avoid writing. Start typing in the box. As long as you keep typing, you're fine, but once you stop typing, you have a grace period of a certain number of seconds and then there are consequences.

There are three different consequences that you can set up for yourself:

1. Gentle Mode: You get a sweet pop up message that urges you to keep writing if you stop.
2. Normal Mode: Plays obnoxious music when you stop writing and won't stop untilyou start pounding on the keys.
3. (My personal favorite) KAMIKAZE Mode: will start DELETING WORDS if you stop writing. Did you hear me?

IT WILL DELETE YOUR WORDS!!!

Now how's that for some motivation?

Hard Core.

**Chirp** **Chirp**

I've done so good. You'd be so proud of me, really! It's been over a month and I haven't batted an eye. I've been writing merrily along with my WIP. I've been sewing. My house is super clean.

But now, for whatever reason...

...it's starting to get to me.

Blog Chain Post: Only One

It's my first time starting a blog chain and picking a topic. A few days ago I had a topic all picked out but at the last minute inspiration struck and I changed my mind. This blog chain is a game! Your subject is writerly advice. (I just made that word up. Hee) Pretend you are addressing a crowd of aspiring authors eager to soak in your words of knowledge. The problem is, you've only been given a time slot of five seconds. In one sentence (no more than 20 words), please summarize the most important words of wisdom you can impart.

You can elaborate and address questions only in the comments section.

When this blog chain is complete I plan to list the entire chain's one-sentence pearls of wisdom in a blog. Feel free to do the same - just give credit where credit is due!

If you do not belong to the blog chain please feel free to play along. Just post a link to your own blog in my comments section and I'll make sure your sentence is listed in the final blog. Have fun!

Here's mine:

"Read as many books in your genre as possible and join a critique group".

Please check out Rebecca's post tomorrow for her answer.

Okay, now it's your turn.....GO!

Teal Wins!

One of my favorite things about being a grown up (besides eating ice cream for dinner) is getting to wear what I want and doing whatever I want with my hair. I've been wanting to dye my hair an extreme color for quite some time - but my day job wouldn't allow it. I do still work part time as a dog trainer but that's what hats are for:)

Thank you so much for voting for which color I should dye my hair on my twitter poll. What fun! Blue and teal actually tied, so when I arrived at the salon I asked my stylist which color lasted longer. She said, "Blue lasts for awhile but I don't know about teal - nobody has ever asked for teal before."

That clinched it. :)

Here are some pictures of the end result. It's a little hard to see in the photos but my stylist dyed the long pieces of hair on either side of my head as well as a streak down the front. Sorry that they're pretty much the same. I'm really bad at taking pictures of myself.

I'd love to know what you think!

Blog Chain Post: Multitasking!

Today's topic was chosen by Terri. She asks,

Do you focus on one project at a time, or do you have many irons in the fire at any given moment?

Please check out Shaun's answer before me and Rebecca's answer to be posted tomorrow.

The short answer is: It depends.

When I was writing KATANA, Rileigh's voice was the only voice inside my head. She was so much fun that I breezed through the first draft in a month. Crazy, right? I wanted to jump right into the sequel, but submission purgatory has me a little superstitious. I'm worried that if I start writing book two book one will not sell. I'm quirky like that.

But I can't NOT write. So I came up with two ideas, narrowed it down to one and started writing. My new MC, Edith, is quiet and depressed - a far cry from KATANA's Rileigh who obsesses over the perfect shade of lip gloss. So I find I can only write from Edith's POV in short increments lest I begin to become a bit depressed myself. Seriously, it's happened. So I write a chapter of BREATHLESS (Edith's book) every two weeks or so and the rest of the time I spend with Garrett and his friends. Garrett, my MC of Dragon Blood Dice, is 14, girl crazy, and his friends are a riot. He's just the life preserver I need when I find myself falling into a dark place.

So I wonder if I've strayed from the selected topic of multitasking to the topic of whether or not my characters impact me in real life. Hmmmm, I just may have found my blog chain topic for next week.

At any rate, when I find myself feeling down this video is always good for a laugh:

This is Why I Cannot be Left to My Own Devices Part II

I recently signed up for the SCBWI Mid South conference in Nashville next month (look me up if you're going) and decided I needed a new suit.

A normal person would go to Macy's and buy a suit.

I thought it would be fun to make one.

Not so much when I'm still up at three-in-the-morning near tears because the collar won't lay flat. In fact, I have to schedule an appearance for my jacket on Divorce Court because the collar and and yoke front are citing irreconcilable differences.

And there's also the fun "I cheese grated my own eyeballs" feeling that comes with four hours of sleep.

With all the shedding of sweat, blood, and tears you ask, "Why do you do it?"

For the same reason I write books instead of read them. Now you know what I'm talking about. *wink*

This is Why I Cannot be Left to My Own Devices

So I'm exiting my car the other day and spot something stuck to one of my trees. Upon closer inspection I discover that I've found a little treasure - you might not think so but my 8-year-old self puts up a good argument - I found a cicada shell! Abandoning my keys and purse on the hood of my car I go on a search and wind up with four more.



At this point I'm pretty proud of myself and immediately look for some neighborhood kids to brag to before I remember that I'm not eight anymore. Slightly deflated I line my prize up on my porch with a sigh and try to figure out what to do. Cicadas shells do make for WONDERFUL practical jokes but if I stick one more on my husband's shirt I'm sure to have a court date. (Not really - he's a terribly good sport.)

So I'm staring at my little army when tension erupts. GLADIATOR WAR! AAAAUUUGGGHHH!


I was concerned that the three observers would join in on the death match, but instead, they choose sides and show their support by cheering and forming a pyramid.


By now I'm thinking to myself, Cole, you're going to be 30-years-old in six months. What the heck are you doing playing with bug shells?

And the answer came to me in the form of one of my all time favorite quotes:

“We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”
~George Bernard Shaw~

I'm a writer because I love to play and have a big (sometimes TOO big) imagination. If I didn't allow myself to give in to the games and silliness, then I'd be in the wrong career field and pretty darn miserable.

So how about it, writer friends: When's the last time you played?

I love my job!

Seriously. How can I not when research is so fun?

Yesterday, the ladies of my real-life crit group and I ventured to the local shooting range to learn all about guns. Currently, I don't have a book where guns are in play but the sequel to KATANA does, so I couldn't miss the opportunity. And while I was at the range I came up with a fabulous idea for a gun-slinging erotica book. It involves guns...big ones. LOL. Don't you dare steal my idea, Shawntelle! Hee.

Here's Jesse, our fabulous instructor. He taught us the basics and kept us safe.



We got to play with an array of guns from a rifle to a 45. Here's Shawtelle and Sarah with the shot gun. (Look at the guy behind Sarah - I don't know what he's holding but it looks scary as hell!)





I didn't get any pictures of me because I'm taking the photos, but here's Shawntelle and Sarah with the gun Jesse lovingly refers to as "Verna". Both Shawntelle and Sarah had red welts on their shoulders from dancing with her.





Next, we moved on to handguns. Let me just say that I'm amazed that anyone can kill anybody with those things. I was WAY off target. The 45 had a lot of umph - more than the rifle - which I wasn't expecting. I felt the recoil firsthand *shiver* and it was guuuuuuuuuud.



And lastly, here I am in the middle. What a fun informative day!