Today's Forecast.

Today's Forecast: WiP#3 has some sunny skies as new ideas of setting shine through the clouds. There is a storm brewing on WiP #1, ideas are pouring in. The air became unsettled as changes for my MCs occur. The first chapters are changing with a possibility of a cold front moving in.

That's right many things are happening. I said revisions are going slow but ideas are swirling. It's amazing how a few days away from revising can really put things in perspective.

Yesterday, family day took us to the beach which set off lightening bolts in the idea part of my brain. Both WiPs thundering their thoughts.

Change of scenery can cause a new brainstorm. Yesterday proved that. I've been thinking of a certain setting for WiP#3 but now that may change. Everything started to fall into place as I sat on the beach watching the ocean and feeling the breeze. It looks like that's where it may take place.

Weather has an influence on my writing too. WiP #1 takes place in the winter. So, I think that's why revisions are going slow.  My CPs are keeping the ideas going though--the brainstorming sessions are priceless. After some feedback, stuff has been flying around in my head to the point of dizziness. Plus my MCs for WiP #1 are really vocal and will not stop repeating scenes in my head. (I'm not crazy, right?).

WiP #3 didn't have a specific season but as of yesterday summer could work very well. The characters really showed themselves to me and it looked good. I think I may try and outline this one. We will see how that works out because I'm a panster.

Does weather (seasons) influence your writing?

Do your surroundings (setting) effect your writing?

Have you tried to change your appraoch to starting a WiP? (ex.if you are a panster have you tried to outline?)

Another short one. Have a great weekend!

Things that are random.

So I'm late with my post. The hubs is off so a lot of family time is happening. We both think our son has a genetic mutation that allows him to posess the abilities of Spiderman. No webs from the wrists yet but this kid can climb on a narrow sill of a window and hold on where the lock is. The window is closed and he is doing this on the inside. He is smiling the whole time while I just aged 10 years. So he might be the next hero of the world or a professional rock climber. I guess a super hero is not so bad--I thought Wonder Woman parked her invisible jet in my backyard (when I was a kid--I thought this--not now :)

Nothing has been happening much in the way of WiP. Revisions are slow and you are probably sick of hearing me talk about them. Well, at least me writing about them.  I found a couple of posts regarding revisions. You should check these out.

Kelly over at Kelly's Compositions wrote an awesome post about this very thing.

Also, Guide to Literary Agents has a post on 6 Keys to Revising your Fiction.

I'm also working on trying to schedule my time. Writing time, kid time, cleaning time, reading time. It's getting there.  I'm trying to read some fabulous self editing and revision books but fitting it all in is tough. Slowing down for me is hard but I'm getting there.

I did finish a book Eldala by Michelle Gregory. I will be interviewing her later this month. I liked it. I will reveal more on my interview post. That means stay tuned. My next book to read is for my book club (A Soft Place to Land by Susan Rebecca White), then I hope to finally read The Hunger Games. Then on to the new Stephanie Meyer novella. Yes, I'm behind in my reading and I'm a slow reader. Whatda do?!

How do you schedule your time? What works best?

Are there any superheroes living in your house? :)

Has anyone read any good books?

It's a short one. Enjoy your day!

What would your soundtrack be?

I love music. Most of you know this. I took piano lessons when I was a kid but never stuck with it. I try to sing in the privacy of my own home and I can hear dogs howling miles away. So not really great at actually producing music just love listening to it. Anyone who is good at it --kudos --I highly respect you.  ***hands clapping***

Music can set a mood. Just watch a movie and listen to the background. If you took it away--it would probably be boring. Not that actors don't do a good job.  It's just adds something more to the scene. Another thing I'm so not good at--acting.  Tried that in high school too--it didn't turn out so well.

My brother is great at both --yea I'm jealous of him. jealous.

Anyway, music.

It is vital to my creative process. Everything I have written has a soundtrack. When I hear the songs that gave birth to the characters in my head--I can feel them, hear them, see them. It's almost scary. The soundtrack to my current WiP is listed over there ===> (on the sidebar). I would hope (I'm dreaming here) if my WiP was ever loved by an agent, and published that maybe if there was ever a movie deal (see told you-- dreaming here)-- that some of these songs better be on the soundtrack.

So, I thought I would point out the most important songs. The songs that still give me chills and let me see, feel and hear my characters vividly.

 1. Panic Switch--Silversun Pickups.  (song #12 on my playlist). This is the song that struck me with the whole idea. The rest of the album Swoon pretty much help write many chapters, along with Carnavas (another album of theirs). I'm in love with this band. I guess their recent album's name sums it up--Swoon. :)

2.Quiet in my Town and Letters from the Sky by Civil Twilight.  Another band I'm in love with. My CPs know my Chapter 3 and well Quiet in My Town is what played when I wrote it. Letters from the Sky just puts me in a zone (eyes glare over) because I can see my MC so clearly --it's scary. Two other songs are inspiring on this album. Human (#44 on the playlist) --which I'm writing a chapter to now and Next to Me (#38 on the playlist). The rest of the album is great too.  Quiet in my Town (#1 on my playlist) and Letters from the Sky (#11 on my playlist). The links I gave you --You may have to hit play or just go to their website http://civiltwilightband.com/

3. I will follow you into the dark--Death Cab for Cutie-- (song #28 on my playlist) This band in general has way too many songs to choose from for this WiP, but this song would describe my MCs to a "T". I don't want to say too much about this one. Gives too much away.

4. M79-Vampire Weekend. (song #11 on my playlist) O.k. I will admit part of my initial attraction to this band was their name. Now, I'm a full blown fan. Absolutely love them and this song helped a very cute chapter.

5.Knights of Cydonia-Muse. (song #21 on my playlist). This band is just awesome. This song sparked a huge scene which I can't say too much about. Many of their other songs do help too. Hysteria being one of them. (song #24 on the playlist).

So there are the major players. The other songs over there remind of my MCs and all the other characters that invade my brain. All of the songs set the mood for my current WiP. I put where they are at on my playlist if the links don't work.

On some of the links you may have to press play (not to buy the song-- just to listen) or you can find it on my playlist.

 Since I'm posting M/W/F this will be up for a couple of days. This week is also hectic cause I have family stuff so it may be up a little longer. ***I thought you guys can post any songs that you would love on your soundtrack (particularly for your story). Either post them in the comments below or post about it on your blog and leave the link in the comments below. I would love to check it out. I'm a music lover of all kinds of music so don't be shy. :)

Also, I missed out on Arlee Bird's many blogfests and blog hops. A lot of them about music. Sorry. I hope to join in on one soon. I think he may have one going on now. Check out his blog.

Hope you have a great day!

The blogosphere is amazing.

Thanks to all of you for your encouraging comments. I 've recovered and the critique is helping me. It was a great learning experience and I have become stronger from it. I've done a lot of thinking and have come up with a few things. Thanks to my CPs --when in doubt they know how to make me smile and bring me back to being me. I don't know where I would be without them. Probably a little on the crazy side, in therapy laying on some leather couch and talking to a doc with small glass who looks like he's listening but is probably thinking of something else.

I realize I have to make a few changes not only in my manuscript but my life. I know I've tried this before but I'm going to stick to a strict blog schedule. I will post M/W/F. Like a lot of you are doing. I will comment when I can.

My home life will change with certain days for certain things.

My WiP will continue. I love it too much. I love writing too much. I'm thinking of some changes but for now I will continue doing what I'm doing with it. Revisions. Also, those SNI (Sexy New Ideas--Thanks Frankie.) keep creeping in and out. All the voices in my head will not stop so I better listen or I may be put into a padded room.

You guys rock and when you need a shoulder I'll be here. The support all of my blogging buddies give me is priceless. You know this because I said it before.

I will still be doing Writing the Next Line once a month. I will be posting one in a couple of weeks.

My first author interview will be taking place the end of the month --right here. :)

I'm keeping it short today and will be commenting later.

I love this pic. Wish my kitties were still this small.

Oh and if you see Edward tell him I'm waiting. :)

This journey is full of ups and downs. It is great to have such great support. Thanks so much and have a great weekend!

Stress can make you react in weird ways.

Well folks, I'm not myself today. I'm sorry. I had a critique that threw me down. A while back I had an opportunity for a critique by someone in the business. I'm not giving names or details. I highly respect this person and to be honest the critique was very constructive --so today I'm taking it that way. It was extremely helpful but I have to make major changes. There was also a comparison to a book which I read after I wrote my story and at the time I read it I freaked out because the beginning scared the crap out of me. Some of the parts were frightenly ( I think I made up a word) similar. So I have an evil eye for this book and have been trying to change some of those similarites. I knew this might happen and totally hated the thought then and now.There are positive points to the critique so I'm sure why I reacted this way. I can take critiques and this one was not that bad.

At first, I did what I try not to do. I cried. Yes, I did and hard. I wanted to ball up and disappear never to be heard from again. I see now how stupid it was after my daughter said what's wrong. I think mainly because I've been stressed out. My house, my kids, my life--lately has been stressful. Again, I will not bore you with the details. The critique broke me. Like I said it wasn't bad, it just threw my brain into a tizzy and made me react in a really stupid way. Stress with real life sucks. It makes you react to things in weird ways.

I just kept thinking how flippin hard I've been working on this changing it a gazillion times and now I have to re evaluate my whole story. My whole idea. Most of the night, I tortured myself on how much I sucked and I don't know why I think I even have talent. How I put every flippin ounce of energy thinking about this story and how to change it to make it better. Taking every stinking moment I had alone and some I would sneak when the kids were quiet (unlike right now) to work on this. Why did I start this now? With small kids? Am I insane?

I'm also trying to catch up with all the books I want to read and can't. By the time I get the kids to bed, I want to write and that's at 9:30-10. I try and write for an hour but most of the time it's unproductive because I'm too damn tired.

Then I told myself I have no time for the negative-- this is a sign, right? A sign to make me work harder and prove that I can. Right?

I feel bad because I felt for a second that I was putting all this time into this and what if I fail? That's part of the whole thing-- failing can happen.

Doubt crept in pushing me to quit but I'm pushing that aside. For now.

I love this too much. I have too many characters speaking to me. Ian and Anna looked at me with tears as I tried to forget them.

I'm in too deep. I'm willing to put in the time and learn.

I know more of this will come.  Pain and torture. This is only the beginning but I really know what some of you mean. I know how it feels and I don't have an agent or editor yet. So I give all of you the biggest credit and hugs. This is hard --I've always known that. It's only going to get harder. Can I take it?

I think so.

Crying only sheds the pain--releases it. Determination builds the strength and helps shield the doubt.

It's a small bump and I can take it. (I hope). Here I was writing all these posts about self esteem and determination. Now I plop back down. Sorry. Human here unless Edward puts me out of my misery. Where is that boy? Needed a distraction.

Thanks for reading and if I don't post for a few days (which may be hard) I'm just trying to get back on track. Taking a breather.  Re evaluating my story and my idea. Because I'm not sure where its going to go. Can I continue it? Part of me hates not to finish the revisions but I don't want something that sucks either. I have other ideas-- should I start one of those? I don't know right now.

My CPs will slap me a little I'm sure. :)

This is only the beginning.  Please don't think I'm a whiner. I feel like every couple weeks I post something like this. Sorry. I'm putting a positive spin on it and trying to apply that to the rest of the stresses I have.

After the whole night, ideas did begain to surface on what I might be able to do. Changes that even though require some work will make this WiP better. There are signs from this and I'm thankful for the person who did this critique. It would have happened sooner or later but I'm glad it happened now.

This also made me smile. This is by Abby Annis. I hope she doesn't mind that I used it for my post.

Oh and please excuse any mistakes. My brain was not thinking clearly when I wrote this. Have a great day!

Contest Update

  

So a quick post today. I'm desperate to win any of the prizes offered at Sara's Very Vampire May Giveaway. I would even try and walk on hot coals for it. Like I said a gazillion times I LOVE Vampires.

Anne Rice, genius, come on --Lestat is one of my favorites.

Charlene Harris, brillant, Sookie and Bill.

Stephanie Meyer, do I really need to say anything, Ohhh Edward how I love thee.

 Christopher Moore, awesome and funny! Seriously.

Bram Stoker, beyond genius, the man who started it all for me, drove me into the vampire world that I love. I would bow down to him if he was still around. O.k. I'll do it anyway. Dracula-- oh-- Dracula --could get any better.

.

So the deadline has been extended to June 7th. Get over to Sara's blog right now and tell her I sent you.

Sara rocks!

Have a great day!

What? You're right, that's the problem.

I hope everyone had a great weekend. I think I ate too much but that's a whole other issue. Anyway, I did relax a little--getting to the beach (my favorite place) and letting my WiP sit.

Well, I can't let it sit. I thought  about it a lot. I can't help it--I think about it everyday. I did some work on it on Saturday--mainly because I have way too may things I want to do with it. You see, my chapter 1 has bothered the hell out of me--that's right I said hell. Sorry. I think I've been trying so hard at trying to make it right I'm missing the point and it's lacking flow. So here's what happened:

1. I've know for quite a while something is missing. What that was I had no idea and I don't like feeling that way. My Critique group (the lovely talented Jen, Summer and Crystal) helped in pointing some things out. So I did make changes but something wasn't right. My CP ( the amazingly talented and awesome Kelly) looked at and well I think she hit the nail on the head. I finally saw it. Yes, it took four people to basically slam it in my face but I got it. I hope. My story worthy problem was missing. I had everything else--inciting incident, initial surface problem but that story worthy problem was not there.  It's pretty important considering it pretty much sums up the whole reason your character is taking the reader on their journey. So I did write some things that should complete my chapter 1. I do need to add a little fluff but I'm happy with what I'm coming up with. For now. Ask me next week that may be a different story. BTW--I love my CPs--Thanks guys.

2. I was very excited to receive a comment from the author Les Edgerton.  If you missed it please read it here. Read in the comments. It's a great lesson on adjectives/adverbs. Once you finished reading that go to Les's blog and read this. All about the premise of your story. This made me think hard this weekend and I'm still trying to make sure what mine is. It discouraged me at first but I'm back on track. It's making me work harder. Oh and if you haven't bought Hooked by Les Edgerton, please do you self a favor and get it.  It's great.

3. WiP #3 is talking again and WiP #1 is not happy. They are literally fighting in my head. All the characters arguing back and forth. They're fighting for my attention like my kids. I feel like I have a litter. Yikes. Either that or another version of West Side Story is developing. WiP #2 is quiet mainly because it's just a continuation of WiP #1 (Yes, book 2). I shouldn't complain I'm glad that all the ideas are flooding my brain but I can't breathe. Wait. I'm back.

4. I also saw a minor detail that--well--is really dumb in WiP #1.  It makes me feel sort of stupid that I missed it but I'm sure it's not the first. I realized at a stop light. My MC breaks her arm in Chapter 2 but in chapter 3 she can amazingly (I seem to like this word today) use crutches. I really wonder how that would work. Oh well, back to figuring that out too.

Anything interesting happen to you over the weekend?

How do deal with fighitng WiPs?

How is your chapter 1 coming along?

Don't you love your CPs?

Do you think about your WiP everyday or am I the only one?

Have a great day!