"Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia." ~E.L. Doctorow

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Wait…How did I get here?


I figured today I would talk about how I got into writing. I’m sure everyone has their own story about how they suddenly went “Hey wait! I could do this writing thing!” and this is mine. :)

When I was a kid, I had this great big overactive imagination and a huge time love of stories. In fact, most nights I would fall asleep to crafting my own in my head. Here’s the hitch. I didn’t have any love for books. (This is where you say “What were you thinking?” ) I know right! But I digress.

As a kid I only knew that school told you that you had to read these crappy classical stories for homework or summer reading and I hated being forced into anything. In fact most of the books they required us to read I found as boring as watching paint dry. :/ Johnny Tremain…anyone?

Anyway I would fall asleep making up stories for tv shows that I loved. My own little kid version of fan fiction I suppose. But as I got older – third year in college in fact – I finally found that there were stories out there that were amazing to read all on their own… without being made to read them. Harry Potter ringing a bell? :D It was all downhill from there.

I ended up minoring in writing in college but for some reason it never clicked that there were actually people out there who make a living as fiction writers! I tried a newspaper internship for a small town paper but it wasn’t for me. (I'm way too opinionated...I know, I know. You say that's really hard to believe. :p) So life went on. I kept reading but the writing was left by the wayside. Eventually I graduated, got married, had kids, etc. And it wasn’t until after my second little one was a toddler that I stumbled upon another amazing series of books and thought “hey I could do this too!”

I picked up a pen and haven’t looked back.
So without making this post any longer than it already is….How about you? How did you figure out that you could actually do it too?

And the IFTD - because I heart them.

Friday, February 25, 2011

For the Adventure of it


Today, I’m going to give you a little peek into how my mind works. ( I warn you now: You may want to cover your eyes. This could get scary…. I’m just sayin’.) While I drive, my mind tends to wander. That’s how I come across most of my story ideas actually.

But anyway, I digress. Today while driving, my mind wandered down a curious path.
I was thinking about what I loved best about writing. Why I do it? Or even more so why I got into it in the first place?

And the answer that I found was because of the adventure in all of it. And no I’m not talking about the road to publication (that is a whole other story entirely…pun intended :) ) What I’m talking about are the worlds I create - the lives of my characters and what they have to go through. And I get to live those adventures vicariously through them!

Most of the time, we settle into our lives after our teen years- sometimes 20’s, sometimes 30’s. But we pick up a standard routine and just live on in that pattern. It’s not a bad thing. Truthfully, I love my life with all my heart, but chances are pretty darn good that I’m never going to get to run the streets of London in an effort to escape corporate spies or government assassins. (This is the part where you say “Uh Duh!”) But do you know what I mean? It’s a chance to experience things that I never would under ordinary circumstances. That’s what I absolutely love about writing.

What about you?

Thursday, February 24, 2011

IFTD


If you can't tell I really like Joshua Radin. So here is another one of his songs...actually it was the song that totally hooked me. :) Hope you like it as much as I do.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

One Lovely Blog Award

And now that I have a moment to breathe...





Here are the rules for this award:

Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and their blog link.

Thank you Kelly. I'm really honored you put me on your list.

Kelly Hashway's Books

For any of you who haven't been, go check out her blog. Tis full of awesomeness.

Okay moving on...Pass the award on to 15 other blogs that you've newly discovered.

  1. The Slight Detour - by Sam aka Samantha Sotto-Yambao
  2. Fi's Magical Writing Haven - by Fi aka Fiona Phillips
  3. Catherine Stine's Idea City - by yes you guessed it Catherine Stine :)
  4. Impudent Hatchling - by Hillary Jacques (snagged this one from Sam's list for the ISB award)
  5. Janel's Jumble - by Janel Gradowski
  6. Operation Awesome - by Angela, Michelle, Amparo, Katrina, Kelly, Kristal and Lindsay
  7. The Book Frog - By Rebecca Glenn
  8. Alexandra Bracken's Blog - by Alexandra Bracken
  9. Confessions from Suite 500 - by Suzie, Meredith, and Joanna
  10. My Thoughts Exactly - by Jessica Brooks
  11. CYNSATIONS -by Cynthia Leitich Smith

Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

Thanks again, Kelly. I really appreciate it!

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Character Analysis

This is going to be an interesting blog post because I've got a few things to cover today.

First up,I have to thank Kelly from Kelly Hashway's Books for putting me up for my second blog award. (I'm blushing guys honestly and that's not easy to do.)



More to follow on that.


Secondly, this morning while I was perusing Fi's blog I found that she joined a new challenge called the Creative Every Day challenge and I just had to join too. How could I not?! Having an excuse to flex my creativity - what could be better? Fi you certainly know your stuff. :)

Next, I had an interesting thought yesterday and I just had to put it up for discussion. I couldn't help but wonder if we as writers have tendencies toward a certain type of character when we write. Even if they're not the main characters. Do we always stick in the strong, silent hero? The dark and dangerous femme fatale? The sweet romantic? Or the proper gentleman?

Or do you go out of your way to change it up every time? Do you enjoy finding your way around a totally different personality? Well? Do you guys have character preferences? Do you have favorites? If so what are they? I want to hear from you guys!

Anyway, in the mean time I will leave you with two new songs that I love. Hope you guys love them too.




Inspiration for the Day

Today was one of those days that I just didn't want to get out of bed so it called for drastic measures - A big, ole honking cup of coffee and some base-pounding music. Enjoy!



On second thought, lets make it a tag team effort. I'm still not quite awake yet.:D

Monday, February 21, 2011

The Irresistibly Sweet Blog Award

Well I'm honored to say that I've received my first blog award and isn't it a beauty?

Okay, okay stop trying to eat it already!

Here's how the award goes:

1. Thank and link back to the person that gave this award.

THANK YOU SAM! You rock it big time!!!

2. Share 4 guilty pleasures that you have.

Oh geez. Only 4? I'd better make them good....hmm.

1.) On the days were I want to do nothing but veg, I'll put the kids to bed and flip on the Netflix to watch Bones Marathons. Although now thanks to a certain Dr. Who fanatic I may have a new addiction. (I'm looking at you Sam!)

2.) Frozen (yes I said FROZEN) Mint Milano Cookies. Do not knock it till you've tried it, my friends. Yuuuuu-uuum.

3.) Snuggling down in my bed with the door shut, to read. And I'm talkin' a real ink and paper-paged, bound, hard cover (and yes I have a fixation with hard covered books) book. Reading is a total sensory experience for me so I just can't get into an E-reader. Give me an old fashioned book anytime!

4.) Running away from mommyhood for two hours while both the munchkins are in school and vegging out in my favorite cafe with a large caramel latte in my hand, a laptop/notebook in my lap, and an eye on the decedent cupcakes sitting in the display case right in front of me. *Sigh*


3. Pass the award along to 6 other sweet blogs.

Well if I could I would put Sam's blog in my list, but I'm pretty sure that isn't allowed so...

Confessions From Suite 500

Two of the peeps from FinePrint -Suzie Townsend and Meredith Barnes

They are full of awesomeness.

My Thoughts Exactly

by Coffeelvnmom aka Jessica Brooks

A blog where an Internet loving coffee addict posts her thoughts, feelings and current happenings in her life. Oh, and she writes. And loves owls too.

(yeah I didn't make that one up but don't you love it!)

The Secret Life of a Bibliophile

The thoughts and ramblings of an avid Reader.

by Jen Lamoureux. My good friend and walking library database. She comes in really handy while bookstore stalking. :D

The World Crafter

crafting worlds one idea at a time.

By Katrina (another SheWrites babe!)

1st BOOKS: Stories of How Writers Get Started

by Meg Waite Clayton

She gets extra mega props for putting together the SW Blog Hop. You have my respect Darling!

The Book Frog

by Rebecca Glenn

She's got a FABULOUS site. I absolutely love it! And come on, people! Its called The Book Frog! How cute is that?!

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Inspiration of the Day


Cause I know you love them...
And I think I might have an addiction. :)

Hi SheWrites!



Welcome SheWrites Blog Hoppers!
to

C.M. Villani: Inside the Heart of a Storyteller


My blog chronicles the misadventures of the wild, high-living, munchkin wrangling, hubby pleasing, butt kicker that is me - CMV. :) Just kidding (well sort of). Honestly, I started this blog at the beginning of last year to post about the highs and lows that come with the desire to become a published author. And boy are there many.


On occastion, I'm also known to post up some snippets of advice, total all out rants, and a good song here and there. Hope you guys poke around a little bit to check out what I'm all about.

* * *

~Something Old~


For my blogging advice, I wanted to repost the links I put up at the beginning of the week to the how-to tutorials for creating Blog Badges/Buttons and the scroll box for the embed codes below it. It really isn't all that hard and it makes a great way to promote your blog!



~Something New~


For those of you who have been here for a while, you'll know that I recently came to the decision that I needed to rewrite the first few chapters of my current work in progress

- THE TOUCH OF DEATH -

So as something big for the SheWrites blog hop I wanted to share my recently finished first chapter. Enjoy!



~Something Borrowed~


As I said above I - on occasion (okay three times last week but who's counting) - post up great new songs that I find.


Here is a great new one



~Something Blue~


Well besides the majority of my blog... :)

I created a series of Blog Badges/Buttons for Snag My Badge!
If you want to/like to, you can grab one to post up on your site!
Check them out on the right hand side of the page.
Thanks in advance.



CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO THE BLOG LIST

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Inspiration for the Day


Okay so Valentine's Day didn't count for this week's IFTD ( I feel like my daughter ..."That didn't count, Mom!") So this is my little muse moment for this week.

A song that I absolutely loved since the moment my bestie sent it to me. This is Dream by Pricilla Ahn. Enjoy!

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

SheWrites Blog Hop Idea (Part Two)

Okay so my bestie - also known as the wise and glorious webmistress Nicole - found me this site with some great tutorials on how to create your site badge and how to create the scroll box underneath it with the embed codes for people to copy.

And because I give credit where credit is due - Thanks Jess over on A Few of my Favorite Things for the tutorials!!! You rock!

P.S. You think this counts as my blogging advice for the blog hop? :D

Monday, February 14, 2011

Shewrites Blog Hop




So I'm going to participate in Meg Waite Clayton's Blog Hop over at Shewrites which starts Thursday morning and runs through Sunday (I believe). I know a lot of you also belong to Shewrites, and I thought it might be something fun to create site badges for people to collect as they go through the blogs. Similar to the one from Shewrites I have in the right hand column of this blog.



If people want they can even post up the badges on their own blog to help cross promote each other's work.

What do you think?

Share the Love People!





Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

Make sure you give someone a hug today

because we all need a little love.








Friday, February 11, 2011

Surprisingly NOT an Inspiration for the Day :)


So I had a thought today about my main characters. How much of your own personality leaches into them?

For me, they typically have a great deal of my personality in them. No I’m not saying that I’m writing myself onto those pages just that they tend to pick up some of my more charming :) personality traits as they go.

Right now my MC is a snarky, butt-kicking, she-well, you know. I know…I know you are all saying that doesn’t sound anything like me! **cue the maniacal laughter** but honestly Jordan (my MC) seems to inhabit that tiny voice in the back of my head when people tick me off. Okay so maybe not so tiny. But her voice is everything I wish I could say to people. Talk about a therapeutic outlet huh?

In my previous story – THE PLAINS OF PURGATORY – my MC was compassionate and willing to do almost anything to help her friends. Despite how vein it sounds, also a big part of my personality.

So my question to you is how much of your own personality ends up in you main characters?

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Inspiration for the Day (Last one I swear)



Okay I think I will just limit IFTD to once a week from now - which will start next week because I've got one more to share today. :) But this will be the last one this week I swear!












P.S. This time I blame ITunes. They're eeeeeeevil. :)

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Inspiration for the Day


Okay I swear this isn't going to be a trend but here is another good song of IFTD. Hey I blame Pandora for bringing up such good songs. :D

Monday, February 7, 2011

Inspiration for the Day


This song I first heard at the end of The Chronicals of Narnia: Prince Caspian.

I thought it was really moving, so I hope all the rest of you enjoy it too.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Instant Gratification


Today I decided to write about instant gratification because lets face it the world we live in now is all about getting what we want immediately. For instance, remember when we were kids and Mom would take pictures, we'd have to wait a week or more to get them developed (and that was fast!). Now my kids are like "Can we see it?" and there it is on the the screen for them to view right away.

Its the same for almost everything. Music - instant downloads from Itunes. You have a question - immediately look up the answer on our phones of all things. You want a book that came out today? Sure you don't even have to go to the bookstore anymore. Just download it to your IPad. We're all about instant gratification in this age.

Well for those of us without agents and editors (those with them you still know what I'm talking about because you didn't start out with them) or writing groups for that matter, writing is extremely hard because we don't get that instant feedback. We don't have people telling us right away that this chapter is fantastic! or tweak this and it will be a thousand times better. I'm not sure if I can talk for every author out there but I know I feel it - Self Doubt. And insecurity is killer in the writing industry.


The intangibility of our trade makes it hard to feel like a success - at least before publication (afterward is a completely different story) - without someone there telling us that their opinions on our work. How do we know its any good?


So how do you deal with self doubt? How do you reassure yourself that what you are writing is really worth reading?
I posted this before but I figured it could bear repeating.

The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.
~Sylvia Plath