"Tangled" webs we weave...and some awards!!

Happy Sunday, all!  Have you worked off that Turkey dinner yet?  I've thought about aerobisizing it off all weekend long (few rounds of Just Dance oughtta do it, right?)... but all that thinking just made me crave more turkey, so once I'm done here I think I'm going to cook it all again.  Stuffing, yams, mashed potatoes - the whole shebang!  So, I guess I'd better type quickly!!  My stomach is starting to rumble.....

Aside from mad turkey cravings since Thursday, my daughter and I went to see Disney's "Tangled" yesterday:

It was soooooo ADORABLE!!!  I really enjoyed it.  Truly.  My daughter even made the bold statement that "This is my new favorite Disney movie!"  I don't know if I'd go that far...(B&B is still nearest and dearest to my heart) but it's right up there!  Well, you know...with the other 10 or 15 or 20 Disney shows I love.  :)

Disney, of course, always does their unique spin on a classic.  *Spoiler*  There was no blind prince here.  And Rapunzel wasn't cast from the tower by the evil witch.  She escaped on her own.  But, I enjoyed the creative deviations that Disney took all the same.

And I find that I really enjoy this in books that I read - a twist on a classic fairy tale.  I may have mentioned this before, but I really love Shannon Hale's "Goose Girl" series.  It's her own twist on a (possibly more obscure) Grimm's Fairy tale.  One of my own novels-in-progress (wip) is a small twist on the Snow White fairy tale.  At least - I hope that part of it is obvious to readers.  I know a lot of writers do this (Gregory Maguire, Neil Gaiman, or Alex Flinn's "Beastly", which is also coming out on film soon) - I mean A LOT of writers.  So my question for you today is, "Do you?"  Are any of you incorporating/twisting/revisiting classic fairy tales in your novels?

Some other wonderful business to attend to now!!  I've been awarded some blogging awards!!  Yeah, me!!  Lindsey over at "Dangerous with a Pen" gave me the Versatile blogger award.  Thank you, Lindsey!!  And Alexia over at "The Life and Literary Pursuits of Alexia Chamberlynn" gave me the Honest Scrap award:

Woo hoo!!  Thanks, Alexia!  Ok - so I've gotten the Versatile blogger award before from Abby over at Above Water - but I wasn't cued in on the "rules" of accepting such wonderful, thoughtful awards.  So - I'm supposed to share 7 things about myself for the VB and 10 things for the HS...eek!  Really?  Does that mean 17 things about me right now?  I'll make it brief:

(Actually, I'm cheating a little....here's a list of 17 of my favorite (insert category here))

Favorite Foods:

1 - Thanksgiving dinner (the whole thing!)  2 - SF Sourdough Ham&Pineapple Pizza w/Alfredo sauce  3 - Oooo!  Speaking of Alfredo Sauce - from Olive Garden, on breadsticks or fettuccine  4 - BBq'd hamburgers

Favorite Sweets (yes, this deserves its own category):

5 - CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES!!  (forever on the hunt for the perfect recipe)  6 - Caramel corn  7 - brownies, frosted  8 - strawberry shortcake   *argh!  fighting...urge....to...quit....typing...and....go...eat.....ok, it's passed*

Favorite TV Shows:

9 - Buffy the Vampire Slayer!!  (A MUST watch for any doubters out there of this show's pure, clever awesomeness!!!!)  10 - Star Trek  (all version of it, except the original...is that weird?)  11 - Pushing Daisies (you said "goodbye" toooo soon!)  12 - Top Chef!!

Favorite Board/Card Games:

13 - Apples to Apples (so fun!)  14 - Hand and Foot (for the serious card-player)  15 - Cranium (got clay?)  16 - Shout about the Movies (ok, this one's a dvd game, but it counts!)

And finally, my favorite 13-year-old:

17 - My daughter Alexandra, OF COURSE!!  (yeah, she just came in and read this and says to me "Oh, I'm number 17??)  Please insert her at #1 - :)

I also must pass this on to some wonderful bloggers I know - in my opinion, you're ALL fantastic!  (cop out).  I've already listed some WONDERFUL ones above (Alexia, Lindsey, Abby)  but, here's a few more:

Colene @ The Journey
Lydia @ The Word is my Oyster
Ivy @ The Happy Whisk
Jen @ Unedited
Shannon Whitney Messenger
Jess @ Falling Leaflets
Lenny Lee @ Lenny's World
Shayda @ Shayda Writes

These are just to name a few of the GREAT blogs I've come across!  There are a LOT more, to be sure!  So - if you're feeling versatile and honest today, please pick either award for yourselves.  :)
(Oh, yeah - don't forget to enter my giveaway!!)

Find the Story Friday!!!! Puttin' a little Spring in your Winter....

Happy Friday - all!  Soooo.  Is anyone reading this on your phone/laptop as you freeze to death in line and outside your favorite department store for the Black Friday shop-a-ganza mayhem??  Not me!!  Seriously.  You couldn't pay me to stay up all night in the cold with a bunch of strangers only to stampede through random-store doors in hopes of fighting, grappling, stealing, wrestling  getting a deal on something I probably don't need anyhow.

But if this is your bag (baby), I hope you're staying warm, you don't get trampled, and you steal the deal of a lifetime!  :)

And also hoping your Thanksgiving was fantabulous!  Mine sure was.  Did I mention that Thanksgiving dinner is my all-time favorite meal of the year?  My sister switched it up a little this year (I'm generally a traditionalist with my T-day meals....turkey, cranberry sauce, mash taters and gravy, stuffing, sweet potatoes, rolls...) and made a butternut squash souffle.  Yum!!  And then we played games while (some of) the boys watched football.  Games = Spoons (we only saw a few injuries) and Phase 10 (I won!!).  I love long days with great food, great conversation and fun with the people I love.

But, after all was said and done, we left a great day and each other in a freezing cold night.  I've been home for a few hours now, but my teeth are still chattering!!  So...as I sat here thinking of what photo I'd add for Find the Story Friday - I realized that even if you're not as cold as me...it's still winter out there, everywhere!  So - here's a little spring to your winter.  Let me know how it inspires?  I'm giving you a few choices here, so hopefully one of these lovely spring pics will spark a story idea in you:

Ahhh....lovely.

Beautiful!

Little slice of Secret Garden here....

Gorgeous, no?

Hmmm....I'm visualizing #1 -  a scene set for a lover's quarrel  and/or  #2 -  a clandestine meeting of two old high school friends at the Tulip festival in Amsterdam.

Anything budding in that brain of yours?  Hope so!  Now grab that pen and write!  :)

(oh - and P.S.!!  If you haven't entered my GIVEAWAY yet, there's still time.  Accepting entries through Midnight, Dec. 4th)

"Happy Thanksgiving!!" she said.

Welcome to a few new followers and HAPPY THANKSGIVING to you ALL!!  I sincerely hope that you all have a wonderful day tomorrow with family, friends, and everyone who loves and appreciates your pure awesomeness.  Holidays are the best!

A few things I'm thankful for - my family (of course!!), my friends (in real life AND on-line), some other important stuff (job, home, clothes, food, freedom, etc.), my freedom to write fiction (and a little God-given talent, I hope) - there's so many things to be thankful for!

So enjoy your day and also a few Thanksgiving (serious and/or funny) quotes/poems I dug up from the QuoteGarden.

For your serious/heartfelt holiday moods:

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. ~John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Gratitude is the sign of noble souls. ~Aesop
He who thanks but with the lips
Thanks but in part;
The full, the true Thanksgiving
Comes from the heart.
~J.A. Shedd

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

To tickle your turkey...err funny bone:

An optimist is a person who starts a new diet on Thanksgiving Day. ~Irv Kupcinet

Thanksgiving, man. Not a good day to be my pants. ~Kevin James

I love Thanksgiving turkey. It's the only time in Los Angeles that you see natural breasts. ~Arnold Schwarzenegger

May your stuffing be tasty
May your turkey plump,
May your potatoes and gravy
Have nary a lump.
May your yams be delicious
And your pies take the prize,
And may your Thanksgiving dinner
Stay off your thighs!
~Author Unknown

And for the Football fans out there:

Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare. They are consumed in twelve minutes. Half-times take twelve minutes. This is not coincidence. ~Erma Bombeck

Hope you all have a good one!  What are you thankful for this year?  :)

p.s.  if you haven't entered my giveaway yet - please go check it out here!

Giveaway!! It’s all about the (Birthday) Presents!!

First of all, HAPPIEST OF ALL HAPPY BIRTHDAYS TO MY BEAUTIFUL ALEXANDRA!!  My only daughter is a teenager today!!  OMG – a teenager?!!?  (Heaven help me now!!)  Yesterday, we had a chance to experience a “Private Penguin Encounter” at the Living Planet Aquarium as one of her special birthday weekend activities.  Check out these cool pics:

There's my cute girl - right in the middle of it all (as usual...)!

Three in a row

Aren't they CUTE!!?

This girly bird had a thing for my husband...

But her boyfriend was having none of that!!  "Look, look - I'm bowing.  I'm clealy AWESOME!  Pick me, pick me!!"

Penguins bow to their mating interest...a fun little fact for you all!  These are Gentoo penguins, by the way.  So adorable.  They even gave my daughter a birthday present of their own:

Penguin ART!  :)

Totally awesome, right? We’re off later today for MORE fun, as today is her actually birth date. But, I thought I’d present this little post first:

My first EVER Giveaway!!! (aka – random generosity, or shameless ploy for more followers, or what have you…) Since today, my daughter’s birthday, is all about the presents and I’m in this generous mood – and we’re also on the heels of Thanksgiving (thank you!) and Christmas (more presents!) – here’s what I’m offering today:

#1 - A $30 gift card to your choice of Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble (OR a Mrs. Field’s gift card, because I’m looking at their Holiday catalog right now and drooling…YUM!)

But, wait! There’s MORE! (I can’t write that without channeling my inner-infomercial voice)

#2 – I will also dig deep into the bloggy archives of the winner and read/consider/mull over to determine the PERFECT Christmas ornament for you! (which I will mail along with your gift card) **for any winner who doesn’t celebrate Christmas or put up a tree (or have a blog...), please feel free to suggest an alternate Holiday treat.

Interested? Here’s what you have to do:

1 – be a current follower and comment on this post = 2 entries

2 – become a follower and comment on this post = 1 entry

3 – Bonus entries for: blogging about my Giveaway (+3), linking my Giveaway on your sidebar (+2) (*please note in comments if you do either/both)

That’s it! Easy enough, right? I hope this is something that appeals to all of you. It will be FUN for me!! I LOVE ornaments!!

And I’m going to go old-school and actually pick my winner from a hat. From this hat:

So, please spread the word, comment away and GOOD LUCK! *I’ll be running this for two weeks from today. Contest will conclude and winner chosen on Sunday, Dec. 5th.  Woo hoo!! :)

It's "FIND THE STORY" Friday - Me Mateys!!

Happy Friday, everyone!!  *does a little dance*  Is there anything better than weekends?  No-work, stress-free, sleep-till-noon weekends?  (I sooo need one.)  If you're doing that Friday-dance with me and nodding, I hope you thoroughly enjoy yours - :)

And welcome to my next "Find the Story" Friday!!  Since I first gave you a place (Stonehenge), and I next gave you a thing (lost balloons), today I thought I'd give you a person.  So, get those idea wheels rolling and let me know what you think about when you see this:

!

!!

!!!

!!!!

!!!!!

!!!!!!

!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!

are you patiently waiting?

!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!

!!!!!!

!!!!!

!!!!

!!!

!!

!



Wow - ok.  Here's my picture-inspired story blurb:  This poor sucker's bored wife decides to take silly pictures of him with this cool new app on her brand new phone, while waiting for her turn at bowling at some dive alley in random city, MA.  She gets her kicks texting these funny pics to her bff's at home.  Chaos ensues when the pic hits Youtube and a pirate crew, looking to recruit, comes knocking at the door.....(based on a true story)

Any of you playing around with pirate stories?  Or does this, by chance, make you want to?  :) 

Well, that's all I've got for you today folks, but I've got something AWESOME planned for Sunday!!  Stay tuned!!  Hope ye all have a treasure filled, plank-walk free, jolly roger start to your weekends! 

Inspiration and Marshmallows!!



For a writer - Imagination is the marshmallow and Inspiration is the fire that burns it into that toasty, yummy treat that we all crave (oh, you know you do – admit it!). Sure, the marshmallow on its own is a great little sugar-fix. But, isn’t it sooo much better toasted? Smeared between chocolate and graham crackers? (ummm, totally!)

Imagination is a wonderful gift! But, that little bit of inspiration that makes us want to take our imaginings to a whole new place is key to a writer.

A few things brought me to this post idea this week. Reading Elana J.’s reflection on her successful year! Read even a little bit about her journey and her writing/blogging/everything!! processes and you’ll be inspired! And then the fabulous Jen Daiker, whose inspiration to blog about Harry Potter this week (shucks, why wouldn’t you?) opened up a great opportunity for her! (Sooo excited for you, Jen!) And then, of course, we’re still in the middle of Nano month. Who couldn’t use a little bit of inspiration about now?

So, I Googled “inspirational quotes by writers” and I’m sure the majority of you have probably read these all before, but in case you’re having one of those writing days where you need a good kick in the tush? Here’s what I’ve got for you:

“There are times when quantity is at least as important as quality in learning an art.” Lawrence Watt-Evans (An EXCELLENT one for Nano)

“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.” -Mark Twain (Notice I’m not keeping any of you away? That’s right – because you’re GREAT! Such a supportive, wonderful group of fellow writers I’ve found. *hugs!*)


“Experience is one thing you can’t get for nothing.” Oscar Wilde

“Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” E.L. Doctorow

“Becoming the reader is the essence of becoming a writer.” John O’Hara

“Read a lot, finding out what kind of writing turns you on, in order to develop a criterion for your own writing. And then trust it – and yourself.” Rosemary Daniell

“If you would be a writer, first be a reader. Only through the assimilation of ideas, thoughts and philosophies can one begin to focus his own ideas, thoughts and philosophies.” Allan W. Eckert

“Start early and work hard. A writer’s apprenticeship usually involves writing a million words (which are then discarded) before he’s almost ready to begin. That takes a while.” David Eddings

“Read, read, read. Read everything – trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the most. Read! You’ll absorb it. Then write. If it is good, you’ll find out. If it’s not, throw it out the window.” William Faulkner

“Write what you care about and understand. Writers should never try to outguess the marketplace in search of a salable idea; the simple truth is that all good books will eventually find a publisher if the writer tries hard enough, and a central secret to writing a good book is to write one that people like you will enjoy.” Richard North Patterson

“When I used to teach creative writing, I would tell the students to make their characters want something right away even if it’s only a glass of water. Characters paralyzed by the meaninglessness of modern life still have to drink water from time to time.” Kurt Vonnegut

“I write as straight as I can, just as I walk as straight as I can, because that is the best way to get there.” H.G. Wells

“There are no laws for the novel. There never have been, nor can there ever be.” Doris Lessing

“The first thing you have to consider when writing a novel is your story, and then your story – and then your story!” Ford Madox Ford

“The task of a writer consists of being able to make something out of an idea.” Thomas Mann (This one goes good with my toasty marshmallow, am I right?)

“The difference between reality and fiction? Fiction has to make sense.” Tom Clancy

“If a book is not alive in the writer’s mind, it is as dead as year-old horse-shit.” Stephen King

“You must want to enough. Enough to take all the rejections, enough to pay the price of disappointment and discouragement while you are learning. Like any other artist you must learn your craft – then you can add all the genius you like.” Phyllis A Whitney

And ultimately - “He is able, who thinks he is able.” Buddha

(Source of Quotes found here)

So, you’re all like “King/Queen Inspired” now, right?  Good.  Now, go turn on that stove burner, stick a marshmallow on a fork, toast it, eat it….all set?  Now write!

Homage to Other GREAT Artists I know - :)

I read another great blog (Lydia at "The Word is my Oyster") the other day that asked, "Where else has your creativity taken you?"  Sadly, for me...it's limited to writing (at least I hope I have talent for this!) and probably cooking (people eat what I put in front of them, so that's a good sign, right?)  Sure, there's other things I'd LIKE to be good at.  I still want to take that pottery class someday.  But, this question also got me thinking about other people I know that are AMAZINGLY talented and I thought I'd take this Sunday to pay Homage to some other great artists.

I'm starting with my mom.  Sadly, we lost her in 2006 - sooo young, only 52.  I still miss her every single day, especially around the holidays.  She was an amazing cook, an amazing decorator (everyone wanted her to design a room in their homes!) and just awesome at crafting whatever struck her fancy.  Not to mention, she was the best mother four girls could have.  I'd like to share just a handful of the wonderful things she made that I'm lucky to have in my possession:    (pardon the tacky back-drop sheet...)

My lovely mother and just one of her cool birdhouses

I LOVE these (above) birdhouses - she rocked, grouted and painted them - there are barns, churches, log cabins, all sorts - but I loved this round one.  Here's a bird bath she did:



Bird bath from the side

  

From the top

Another cool rock pot she did:



Here's a Christmas pot and topiary she created - both bases are done with tissue paper - so cool! 

She shaped and curled all that ribbon, used tissue paper on pot - awesome...



Check out the detail and wrap around the handle

Here's a reversible picture she soldered silver around:

One side

The other



Some other lovely pots and jugs:

I love the antiquing finish on the middle one!

 She even did jewelry:

My daughter as model for both

Like I said, these are just a tiny, minuscule taste of all the wonderful things she created.  They were my FAVORITE gifts and the best keepsakes ever.  I'll take hand-made over store-bought any day!

My lovely sister, Cait, is following in Mom's footsteps.  Look at this cool picture frame she made for my birthday:

I also have some fabulous friends (on-line and in-person) that have talents I can't help but envy.

Here's a little shout out to one of my best g-friends, Sarah Jebian, who is an absolutely stunning singer.  She's currently in the works of putting out her first album.  I'm soooo excited for her!!!!  She's also a dancer and an actress and just an all-around great talent.  You can check out some of her performances via her FB page here. 

And another very talented blog friend, Kelly Sansom, her blog makes me laugh and her pictures I want to BUY and FRAME and HANG all over my house!!!  She's a gifted photographer - she and her husband have a photography business in Utah called "Gallery Photography".  She also makes jewelry and gourmet cooks!  Seriously, she's awesome.  Check out her blog.

And then, of course - can't forget to give thanks to all of you - more amazing friends, bloggers, writers, and just all around GREAT people!!  You all ROCK!  Seriously!  I'm happy to have met you ALL.

Happy Sunday!!

Find the Story Friday!!! Lost & Found Balloons

Happy Friday, Friends!  :)  Welcome to my 1st official "Find the Story Friday"!  My plan with these (and this may evolve over time) is to post a pic of a person, place or thing that I found interesting and see if it stirs up a story in any of you as well.

Here's my pic of choice for this week:

And if this one doesn't quite inspire - here it is from a different angle:

These are my Lost Balloons.  I have to admit - I just thought they'd make kind of a cool picture at first.  But, as I got thinking about it from a story angle - I envisioned two things.

#1 - A kid's birthday party in the park.  Maybe the birthday boy/girl got their little hands on this lovely bundle of balloons - hoping it would fly them away.  Maybe he/she just wanted a bird's eye view of family and friends celebrating.  But his/her hands are a little slippery with melted icecream and the balloon bouquet gets away.  *tears*  Goodbye, balloons.

#2 - (the dark side of my brain)  A child is walking home with a balloon bouquet he/she saved all their pennies to pick up at the corner grocery store.  But, it gets lost in the struggle between child and kidnapper!  Eek! 

Just some of my thoughts... :)  What are yours?

Have a FABULOUS weekend!!  I'll be back on Sunday with a post about some great artists I know!

Writer's Conference Info request and ....SNOW!!

Happy Hump Day, wonderful followers!! I’m in the double digits, now! *smiles A LOT*  I sooo appreciate your support and for all of you new to my blog that I haven’t visited yet, I’ll be by soon. :)

First of all….SNOW!! Yes, here in UT (at least the part I’m in) we’ve been enjoying our first snow of the season. I love when it paints the mountains white. What do you think?

 

 
Pretty awesome, right?

But, what I really want to focus on today is Writer’s conferences. I’m not necessarily organized about too much in my life. However, I’m kind of a psychotic pre-planner with my vacation time. I’ve generally got the whole of it divvied out for the entire year by the end of January. And this year, I’d really like to fit in an awesome writer’s conference. I’ve only been to two….(is that bad?) A brief history:

Algonkian Writer’s workshop in San Francisco. I attended in July 2007 for five days. The group was small – maybe 20 of us. We actually stayed in a place called Point Montara, which is south of SF. It was a hostel (not mentioned in brochure) and I shared a small room and bunk beds with 4 other women. Intimate. :)  But, it was on the beach. There was a beautiful lighthouse on the property, and there was a focus on craft and pitching to agents that was really quite good. Agents Elizabeth Pomada and her husband/partner Michael Larsen were there. We group pitched to both of them. I just looked at the website for Algonkian and it looks like they’ve added even more venues. I would say “worth it” for the serious-about-publishing author. I, at the time, fancied myself “serious”. But, honestly - I was so intimidated by the talent of my fellow writers and so unsure about myself and my writing that I didn’t make the best of it. A regret, for sure.

The only other conference I’ve been to is the League of UT Writer’s Fall Roundup, which was in Sept. of this year. What I liked about this one is that it offered several different workshops and lunch/dinner opportunities for networking. It also had a panel of agents, publishers and authors for questions and you could sign up for agent pitches to one or all or none. Your choice! You could be a bit more anonymous here. More my style, but not necessarily better for my writing career.

So – I pose this question to all of you. What’s better? The big, anonymous writer’s conference with 100+ attendees? Or a private, one-on-one intimate conference with limited attendees? Have any of you been to a conference – either private or huge – that you really LOVED?

Have you checked out Shaw Guides list of writer’s conferences? Any good ones for 2011? Maybe, I’ll see you there.  :)

The Stonehenge Face...and other random thoughts

Did everyone "fall back" today?  :)  Thanks to the digital age - it's kind of hard not to.  Interesting question, though...anyone out there merely running on stand-alone battery power and electricity?

So, I went for a drive the other night.  Just kind of zig-zagged around town, with the heat on my feet, my sunroof open, and my I-pod blasting.  I started the drive with some upbeat tunes (Kesha, Taio Cruz, Usher, I think there was an AC/DC song in the mix) and somehow ended the ride with the likes of "Hold on to the Night" (Richard Marx), "Fields of Gold" (Sting), and "Fade into you" (Mazzy Star).  I was actually tearing up at one point.  I'm not entirely sure how it happened.  I did drive by a few old haunts....and I mean "haunts" literally.  I never realized how many places I thought were haunted when I was a kid.  The basement of the house I grew up in, the basement of an old friend's house, the basement of my secondary elementary school (which no longer exists....but the gas station where it used to be had an eerie glow...?)  It's not just basements...I know there's a theme there.

I also drove by my old junior high, which had just recently been gutted by a fire.  The rumor was that they were going to tear it down...on the fence, off the fence...but the fire sealed the deal.  Kind of sad, actually.  On my way to drive by my old highschool (still in working order, btw) I drove by Hilltop Lanes Bowling alley - where I spent MANY good times in my youth.  It was CLOSED!!!  Abondoned...sad and lonely and just sitting there, dilapidated...there was a broken window....  I guess, in retrospect, this was towards the end of my drive bringing on my onslaught of sad, slow songs.  Nostalgia.  Does anyone else have a soundtrack to yours? 

So, why do I bring any of this up?  Well, I was interested to see what kind of songs, images, people, places or things inspire one to write.  And then I thought that I just might need to have some kind of order/schedule for this whole blogging thing.  And here's what I came up with:  Find the Story Fridays!!  I'm posting early this week (what I'm calling, "Start the story Sunday") so, I hope you like it.  If it's completely lame...feel free to comment.  I'm not above constructive criticism.....or am I?  :)

But, I'm posting an image here that I snapped last fall on a trip to England (my first!!!  LOVED it!!)  It evokes a story, I believe.  What do you think when you look at it?  How would this face fit into a story?  Are you getting anything?  Hope so! 

Got it?  Now write!

My WiPs

So, I was perusing a few great author/aspiring writer blogs today and was TOTALLY jealous of the neat little link some of them had at the top of their blogs that took them to a page all about their WiPs.  I guess maybe I'm totally lame or something (valid) because I don't know how to put this feature on my own blog.  Lamer yet is that I realize that I don't really have ANY information on my blog about what I write.  For shame!

I'm going to fix that right now.  Not in a cool link - sorry.  But, just neatly listed here for your information:

#1 focus project:  YA (contemporary) Fantasy.  65,000 word complete 1st draft called "The Glass Prince".  I'd like to make this into a series and I'm about 33,800 words into book # 2 - working title is "The Poisoner's Apple".  I've benched book 2 for a bit to try to focus on revisions for book #1.  Pulling my hair out a little, but still working on it - so GOOD!

#2 - Adult (contemporary) Fantasy.  66,000 word 2nd/3rd/or 4th draft...called "Always Sunday".  This one I haven't looked at in awhile.  It needed a rest.

#3 - My Nano project - Adult (contemporary) Fantasy (is there a better "genre" choice for this?)  Or, this one might actually be sci-fi or paranormal.  I can't decide.  It's called "The Cabin at Lost Creek".

I also have partials for a myriad of ideas - adult, ya and middle grade.  I'm kind of all over the place.  One theme that seems to string through all of my writing, however, is the magical, fantastical, sci-fi, supernatural, paranormal something.  I love, love, love things that reality deems "un".

So, now you know!  In case you were wondering... :)  What are you writing about lately?

-------> FREE NanoWrimo ideas HERE!!! <-------------

In an effort to be supportive of all my fellow NanoWrimos out there, I thought I'd post a few ideas for those of you who've spent a few hours spitting/writing/typing words out of your mouth/pen/keyboard and suddenly find yourself going:

These are my "deep in thought" lips - scary, right?

Are you ready?  Here they are:

1 - Your MC has just popped a zit and the dobber on the mirror is purple!!!!???
2 - Your MC turned left instead of right and finds himself/herself in the middle of a "I love monkeys" parade.
3 - Your MC "accidentally" used peanut oil for the office pot-luck stir fry and now his/her boss is in anaphylactic shock.
4 - Your MC is a BtVS stalker.
5 - Your MC just woke up in a field of poppies with a lion, a pile of straw and an oil can.
6 - Your MC finally realizes that he/she has a disturbing relationship with their own bellybutton.

*Please note:  the quality of these ideas is questionable and your success in using them would be completely coincidental

Happy Writing!!  1,025 words and counting!!  Good luck - everyone!