Childhood Favorites

I watched The Seeker: The Dark is Rising the other night. It was okay, but my memory kept telling me that the book was WAY better.

So, tonight, I'm gonna pick up The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper from my library. Can't wait!

I remember really enjoying this series when I was younger, and I think this will by my 3rd or 4th time reading this particular book.

A few other childhood favorites are:
Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn
Blade of the Poisoner and Master of Fiends by Douglas Arthur Hill
The Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Do you have any favorite childhood books?

Back to Coloth

The good news? Rose thinks it's a geat idea to start posting our stories about Coloth.

The bad news? Revisions . . . Blah.

Oh, well. Better to revise and post, than to have readers point out all the misspellings and inconsistencies in the story line. :D

World Name: Coloth

I'm thinking about hijacking this blog to promote a series of stories (and hopefully a book or 4) that my good friend Rose and I are writing.

I've had a world named 'Coloth' since I was in junior high, populated with dragons, Elves, and a few other Races I like to think of as unique (as unique as the next Race of cat-people can be anyway ^_^).

Recently, since Rose and I have been double-teaming the world, some of the stories have taken on a life of their own, and I'm dying to get them out to be read. I'm also thinking of posting them on my FictionPress account.

Guess I just need to run the idea by Rose now and see if she's agreeable. :D

Retreat in Retrospect

The retreat was great! Everyone gave a little 'class' on different aspects of the writing process (query letters, character bible, metaphor and symbolism, writer's block, etc).

We read aloud some of our pages (which I highly recommend), and did a couple of writing exercises.

One of my favorite exercises is this: we all put 3 characters into a hat and draw out 3 random characters (make sure you don't get your own). From there, we have to write up a scene with the characters and then we read them aloud to the group. The situations are so unlikely, and usually the characters end up out of character, and we laugh until our sides are sore. ^_^

It was an awesome weekend and I'm energized to do more work on my book(s).

Thanks CRAMP-ers!

Writer's Retreat

Look! It's my monthly post. ^_^

I'm going on a writer's retreat with my awesome writing/critique group (the CRAMP) this weekend. I'm so excited! :D

I've written up my first query letter for a workshop we're going to do, and I'm all proud of myself. My first step toward querying agents for my book(s). Woot!

Now I just need to finish a manuscript.

But I've been writing pretty steadily for the past few months, so things are progressing and the CRAMP is giving me awesome feedback on the stories.

Progress is being made!
The dream is being lived!
Victory is on the horizon!

Hoo-ra!

Just DO It

I read a blog post by Sara Zarr (http://www.sarazarr.com/archives/1782) and it got me thinking.

I think I let fear dictate to me too often in my writing. Especially in my blogging (hence the reason I update maybe once a month). I think ‘what on Earth do I have to say that’s so important? My ideas can’t be all that original, so why should I post them up here where anyone could read them?’

Maybe my ideas aren’t that original. But then again, maybe they are. They’re my ideas, with my own unique background influencing how I see them. And true, my ideas might not change the world, but they might, just might, touch someone. One person who needed to hear what I had to say.

I promise to myself to keep on writing. To keep on dreaming and hoping. To keep fear at bay by doing, instead of letting myself be paralyzed.

To quote Galaxy Quest: Never give up. Never surrender!

Attack of the Pizza-wielding Psycho

Oh, it's been way too long since my last post . . .

So, I thought someone was robbing my friend’s car Saturday night, and apparently I’m very polite just before I attack with a box of pizza.

My friend, A, had exited the Little Caesar’s Pizza before me, when I noticed a rump (not hers) sticking out of what I thought was her car. Now it was dark, and this car was a very similar color to A’s, and other than the color of the car, all I really noticed was that it was a man’s rump and shoes sticking out of my friend’s car.

My brain cries thief! and my adrenaline kicks into high gear.

I approach the supposed thief (keep in mind I’m carrying 2 boxes of Hot-n-Ready) and say, “Excuse me, sir?”.

Right about this moment, my brain also starts to notice details about this car. The interior is different from A’s car, and there’s a pair of humongous headphones hanging from the rear view mirror. And the gentleman is extricating himself from his car to face the person who’s addressed him.

Before he can fully exit the vehicle I mutter “sorry” and rush over to A’s car, where’s she’s been standing wondering what the heck I’m doing. (Apparently she and the guy made eye contact and had a silent “what’s she doing” “how should I know” conversation).

I jump into A’s car and tell her to drive (Drive, you fool!), and when we’re away, she asks what that was all about. I tell her “I thought he was robbing your car”, at which point she starts to laugh hysterically and says “That was the politest confrontation I’ve ever seen”.

So next time you hear someone say, “Excuse me” from behind you, make sure that you’re in your own car and not about to be clobbered by the pizza-wielding person who thinks you’re robbing their friend.