Tuesday Turn-On: Michael Whelan

One of my favorite artists is Michael Whelan. He's inspired many a story from the images he creates and has created many perfect depictions of stories he's read.

My favorite fun fact: He's now so popular, he gets to choose which books he does covers for.

Please say he'll do mine one day...

Many of these may be familiar as they cover some famous works of science fiction and fantasy.

Focus

I will be scarce on the interwebs for the next week or two. Work is going to be a lot busier. I will also be finishing up my NaNo novel and polishing up a scene for the "Show Me Yours" Blogfest. If you haven't signed up, do so now. There's plenty of time to tighten up 500 words.

It's also time for my yearly to-do list. Yay!

I hope you all have a great holiday and new year!

Apparently I Did Want Cheese With My Wine

During November, I started trying a few different things to alter my routine to hopefully spur greatness.

One day, I got up really early and turned on the coffee.

Brewed 10 cups.

Filled up one of my giant mugs.

Ate a little breakfast.

Sat my butt in front of the laptop.

Turned on the WIP soundtrack.

And...

I stared. With much excitement.

Every scene. Every storyline. Every character. Every metaphor. They all swirled together and created a tiny tornado of chaotic inspiration.

Eventually, I was able to calm down enough to type something coherent but mostly, I just sat there bouncing, thinking about how awesome my story is...

if only I could calm down enough to put it in "writing."

So I tried something else.

I drank some wine. A lot of wine one night. Turned the lights down low. Lit some incense.

I thought how cool and writerly I was with my wine, incense, dim lighting and fuzzy pjs.

I started writing a sex scene so that means I was giggling. I can't help it. I giggle every time.

So I'm typing and drinking and giggling.

Creating many typos, mind you.

I stopped the typing and the drinking after I mistakenly wrote this gem:

"fart oooo"

Let's just say the giggling went on for many minutes after that.

Needless to say, the only thing I need to write over 7K is my Yorkshire Tea,

my WIP soundtrack, a full day with breaks and my BIC (Butt In Chair).

**Don't forget to sign up for the Show Me Yours Blogfest!**

Tuesday Turn-On: White

Since my world is blanketed in white, I thought I'd share some equally white pictures today.

Enjoy!

Love Actually...is all around us.

One of my most favorite things during the holidays is all the holiday movies I watch.

I have a list of movies I watch from December to February.

One that is watched every December is LOVE ACTUALLY.


There are so many great things about this movie. It's funny and sweet. It's heartbreaking and at times too realistic.

The storyline with Sam, the little boy, is especially sweet.


"Let's go get the shit kicked out of us by love." Sam says.

And that's really how it is, whether it's good or bad, your shit will be kicked. True story.

The funnier story lines is that of Colin Frissell.


"Here comes Colin Frissell and he's got a big knob!"

"Try my lovely nuts."

"American girls would seriously dig me with my cute British accent."

LOL, probably the most unrealistic storyline in the whole movie but hilarious nonetheless. Also, the porn couple. tee-hee!

I also really enjoy the soundtrack to the whole movie.

"I feel it in my fingers. I feel it in my toes. Christmas is all around us..."

Bill Nighy is perfect as a former rock legend, Billy Mack.


"Come on. Let's get pissed and watch porn."

About the only performances I didn't believe was Billy Bob Thornton as the President and Hugh Grant as the Prime Minister. I mean, come on, really?


I still love me some Hugh Grant though.

Have you seen LOVE ACTUALLY? What are your favorite bits?

The Power of Three

How many of you participated in National Novel Writing Month this year? Raise your hands.

Okay, good.

Well this is for you whether you won or not.

I approached two fellow bloggers about this and they both agreed that it was a fun idea.

So Sarah (Falen) Ahiers, Summer Frey and I are joining forces to bring you the "Show Me Yours" Blogfest!


The point of this blogfest is to share an excerpt of your NaNoWriMo novel.

It can be any scene but try to keep it at 500 words so we can all get around to as many blogs as possible.

Who's with me?!

The date as you may have noticed is January 3rd, 2011. This will give you time to choose a scene and edit it, revise it, change it...whatever.

Feel free to give us a little background about your story or at the very least a title and a genre. That always helps, right?

So if you participated in NaNoWriMo 2010, now's the time to show your skills or your bad writing! :D

Sarah, Summer and I are going to try and use the same link widget.

But until then, feel free to sign up on the one I have ---------->


Steal this badge to advertise but please link it back to here or one of the other ladies blogfest post so that they know the rules.

Have a great weekend all!

No Wire Hangers!

I discovered another thing about myself last month during NaNoWriMo.

I’m an outliner.

For many years, I thought I was a pantser and attempted to fly by the seat of said pants through many stories.

Needless to say, I have failed miserably.
In October, I spent a ton of time researching and brainstorming.

I went through the Snowflake Method once I got all the characters in mind and the general plot.
It helped so much! I didn’t even finish it and I was much further along in my story.
I planned on 20 scenes and ended November with twice that amount and I still have half a dozen to add.
I think I will be wise and use the Snowflake Method for all of my novel ideas. It helped me immensely.

Also, I like breaks. I can write a couple thousand in one sitting but then I need to take a mental break.
This is something I did often the last Saturday before the end.
I wrote some and then I watched a DVD and ate something. I can’t eat while writing. I can pause and snack really quick but that’s about it. mmmmm, stroopwafel.

I also can’t drink anything. I do love having water and tea handy but my tea always ends up cold halfway through and I hates cold tea.

YUCK!

That Saturday, I wrote the most I ever have in one sitting. I went a little over 7 thousand.
One day, I’ll challenge myself to beat that. One day.

Friday there will be an event to announce. So stay tuned!!

Tuesday Turn-On: NaNoWriMo Style

There were a few things that kept me inspired while writing my NaNo idea.

I figured I would share them with you. Who knows? Maybe they'll inspire you to write something great.

First, as usual, some pictures:






I was watching 30 DAYS OF NIGHT shortly before November and found my male main character. Minnesota native himself:






And then here are just a few songs that I had on my playlist:

From the Ring

From the Grudge

From Pan's Labyrinth

Sia

NIN

and the title track from Bitcrush.

Hope something here turns you on.

Happy Tuesday!!

Sacrifice?

So it's Monday, I took a week off from writing and I'm itching to get back.

One thing I learned from NaNoWriMo 2010, is that I can go without TV.

It used to be such a big deal to me and I still love all of my shows. I just found that I could go months without watching most of it and not even care.

It's probably mostly due to the fact that I have Netflix and have been a member for about 7 years now.

I think another is due to the fact that writing has become a priority to me. I am not going to let another year past without me having written a first draft. I'm just not.

Don't get me wrong I still shut off my phone, turned off the lights and enjoyed Supernatural every Friday. *Seriously, I love this show.*

But I was willing and am willing to make the sacrifices I needed in order to get some writing done.

In October, prepping for NaNo took up a lot of my time. I stopped watching TV every night except for Wednesday, Criminal Minds (I'm sorry I forgot to mention you earlier, don't hate me) and Friday, Supernatural. I was also working out regularly (something I completely loathe but it's good for me, right?).

In November, I did take a few movie and dvd breaks but on the whole any time I wasn't writing, I was either at work or spending time with The Man.

Is there a point to all this? No, not really. I just made a little self-discovery and thought I'd share.

I would like to hear what you have given up in your life to have more time and focus to write.

And it doesn't have to be for NaNo but overall...

Talk to me.

**Also, check out Jen Daiker's interview with Miranda Dickinson it was good times. Also, Miranda mentions this HarperCollins website I have not heard of for unpublished authors, Authonomy.com. I think we should swarm it! To the browser!!

GOOD NEWS EVERYONE!!

LET'S START THIS DAY OFF RIGHT!

WITH A FABULOUS RELEASE OF, ONE OF MY FAVORITE BRITS, MISS TALLI ROLAND'S DEBUT NOVEL,

THE HATING GAME!!!

I had the pleasure of reading an advance copy for a review and let me tell you...I loved it!

Talli's voice is so strong in her writing. I laughed out loud during many parts and I usually snicker quietly to myself. Not with this one! I could relate a little too much with some parts it was almost embarrassing.

So take a look see and buy a copy on Amazon!! Do it!!

DO IT NOW!!

Here's a handy dandy link:

THE HATING GAME BY TALLI ROLAND

*********************

AND IN OTHER NEWS...

You may have noticed my NaNo status bar over there ---------->

You see that? My Muse is freaking out!

It's true, JLP!! We did it!!!

Yup siree! I hit 50k at around 9 o'clock last night!!! I'm going to happy dance my way through the rest of the book to finish and I'll catch you guys next week!!

I'm a weeeeeiner!!