Archive for the 'Reading is FUNdamental' Category

March 15, 2010 | Reading is FUNdamental,SARK-ism,Sunday Scribblings,The 4-1-1 on Me,Writing Movements,writing workshops

Today’s word of the day is brought to you by Sunday Scribblings: The book that changed everything

Make Your Creative Dreams REAL
A Plan for Procrastinators, Perfectionists, Busy People, Avoiders, and People Who Would Rather Sleep All Day
by SARK
May 2004, Simon and Schuster, ISBN: 0743229215

First of all, I’d like to point out that SARK is one of my favorite authors and literary crush. I am a SARK disciple and pray at the alter of SARK. If she were a cult, I’d join and never look back. I’ve met her several times and have had the pleasure of attending a couple of her workshops. And each time, I’ve come away feeling energized. She has the most amazing presence. Her regular attire of lounge pajamas could be the reason, but I’m sure that’s only part of her charm.

This book changed everything…for my writing. Because SARK (a.k.a. Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy) introduces the Micro Movement Wheel.Click image for bigger view

It’s to help you complete a huge task in increments of 5 sec-5 mins. As you can see in this example, the “dream” is in the middle and each of the 12 sections has a task. Each of these can take 5 sec-5 mins, until eventually, you get further every time and have reached your “dream”.

I applied this activity to my writing, but call it Writing Movements. When I actually have Writing Movements, they get posted here. The results of the Writing Movements, not the actual writing itself. I’m superstitious like that. But I digress…

It works! I’ve finally found something that works for me! Hallelujah, praise the Lord, pass the biscuits!

I use this when:
1) I’m not feeling very productive
2) Trying to crack through writer’s block
3) Procrastinating about writing.

This book was made for me because my other middle name is Procrastination (it’s just not on my birth certificate). I love all this woman’s books, but this one has a special pocket of my heart. The one for writing.

Technorati Tags: Sunday Scribblings, Make Your Creative Dreams REAL, A Plan for Procrastinators, Perfectionists, Busy People, Avoiders, and People Who Would Rather Sleep All Day, SARK

March 10, 2010 | Reading is FUNdamental,Sunday Scribblings,The 4-1-1 on Me,Writer Moment

Today’s word of the day is brought to you by Sunday Scribblings: Fluent

I’m fluent in adult romance books. LOL.

Seriously.

Bookshelf in my office taken a few years ago

I’ve been reading them since about my sophomore year in high school, starting with the Loveswept imprint. Wow. That was so long ago and that line is now defunct.

Then I switched to Silhouette Special Edition, Silhouette Desire, Harlequin Superromance, and Harlequin Temptation. By this point, I was reading 2 books a day, sometimes 3 if I stayed up late. I was at the library nearly every weekend. I barely graduated from high school I read so much.

Then I discovered Harlequin Blaze and never looked back. I’ve since ditched all the other lines and have stuck with this one. I use my Barnes and Noble Preferred Reader card once a month to read these.

Then I discovered other authors like Alison Kent, Jill Shalvis, Donna Kauffman, Susan Mallery, Lori Foster, Sandra Hill, and Carly Phillips. I’ve also taken to reading some erotica, too. Although I probably shouldn’t admit that seeing as how I write YA.

Some people are addicted to drugs, alcohol, caffeine or even chocolate.

Reading adult romance books is my addiction. Yes, I even go through withdrawals when I have nothing to read. No, I don’t plan on getting help for it.

EVER.

I think that I’m so fluent in adult romance that I could write one.

I plan to. Someday.

Technorati Tags: Sunday Scribblings, Loveswept, Silhouette Special Edition, Silhouette Desire, Harlequin Superromance, Harlequin Temptation, Harlequin Blaze, Alison Kent, Jill Shalvis, Donna Kauffman, Susan Mallery, Lori Foster, Sandra Hill, Carly Phillips

March 10, 2010 | Life in General,Reading is FUNdamental,Road Trip Wednesday,The 4-1-1 on Me,Uncategorized

Road Trip Wednesday is a “Blog Carnival”, where YA Highway‘s contributors post a weekly writing or reading-related question and answer it in on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

You’re more than welcome to participate! Just answer the question on your own blog, and leave a link to it in their comments.

Topic #20: List your favorite reading/writing blogs and/or resources

Before I started school, I was reading everything in my Blogroll on a weekly, if not daily, basis. And commenting. Now, I’m barely reading them and have dropped to lurker status on all of them. These are just the highlights.

Crystal Green – Because we’re both Team CHUCK and Team WINCHESTER (Supernatural).

Bria Quinlan – Love reading the monthly Excerpt Monday, her great posts about the writing life and am anxiously awaiting her Edit Cards.

YA Highway - Road Trip Wednesdays. Need I say more?

Wendy Prior - Fab beta reader. And her stories about Riley are, well, hi-larious. When I need a laugh, I go to her blog.

Debbie Ridpath Ohi - Love the comic strip.

The Intern – It’s not every day you read someone who refers to themselves in the third person.

Resources –

Shrinking Violets – Marketing for Introverts. That is all.

Writing on the Wall – All things writing. And if you’re brave enough, you can send the first page of WIP and get publicly critiqued on Monday Mania.

Book Marketing Buzz – Because lord knows I need all the help I can get in this department.

Future Perfect Publishing – Exploring new trends and possibilities in book publishing

Writer Unboxed - “the craft and business of writing genre fiction”….from the POV of 12 different people! Awesome!

Sunday Scribblings – I’ve never been one for writing prompts but I like to participate in this one.

The Creative Penn – I just discovered Joanna Penn recently after reading a post about self-publishing. Finally got around to listening to one of her podcasts and I love, love, love her accent.

Technorati Tags: Road Trip Wednesday, YA Highway, Crystal Green, CHUCK, Supernatural, Bria Quinlan, Wendy Prior, Debbie Ridpath Ohi, The Intern, Shrinking Violets, Writing on the Wall, Book Marketing Buzz, Future Perfect Publishing, Writer Unboxed, Sunday Scribblings, The Creative Penn, Joanna Penn

January 20, 2010 | Life in General,Reading is FUNdamental,Road Trip Wednesday,Writer Moment

Road Trip Wednesday is a “Blog Carnival”, where YA Highway‘s contributors post a weekly writing or reading-related question and answer it in on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

You’re more than welcome to participate! Just answer the question on your own blog, and leave a link to it in their comments.

Topic #13: What book(s) do you love that no one else has ever heard of

My Sergei: A Love Story by Ekaterina Gordeeva with E.M. Swift

Synopsis

They were two mismatched kids teamed by the Soviets to perform for the state, but they grew up to win four World Championships, two Olympic gold medals — and the adoration of millions. Along the way, they fell madly in love and married. By 1995 they were the most celebrated pairs skaters ever — until Sergei died of a sudden heart attack that year. In this moving love letter, Katya recalls their storybook romance and their thrilling career as skating stars, even offering a candid glimpse behind the Olympic glitter. And she bares her heart as she tells of Sergei’s tragedy, her struggle to build a new life for herself and her daughter, and the courage she needed to skate again…alone.

If you’re not familiar with the ice skating world, then you’ve probably never heard of these skaters, or this book. I am a GINORMOUS ice skating fan, particularly pairs, and the Russian pairs team of Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov were my favorites.

What’s shocking is that Sergei died on the ice during practice, at the young age of 28. He had a heart condition that had gone undetected. Watching these two skate was amazing. You could totally tell that they loved skating and they loved each other. I think all pairs skaters wanted to be them, to skate like them. They made it look so effortless.

When he died, I was stunned. Completely. Stunned. And so devastated. I cried. When she skated by herself for the first time, it was heartbreaking. I cried. When this book came out, I snapped it up because I wanted to read their story. They were my favorite skaters. They were part of the reason why I loved watching the sport, watching the pairs teams, and continue to do so.

Technorati Tags: Road Trip Wednesday, YA Highway, My Sergei: A Love Story, Ekaterina Gordeeva, E.M. Swift, Sergei Grinkov

January 1, 2010 | "Whoa whoa I gotta go...back to schoooool...again",Book Stuff,Draven Atreides, Teenage Informant Series,Life in General,Reading is FUNdamental,School Daze,The 4-1-1 on Me

Resolution Update: I took the initiative with Resolution #2 and got a membership at 24Hour Fitness. Much pain cometh.

It’s that time again. Time to reflect on your life, lament the things you should’ve done, give yourself a pat on the back for things you did. I can’t seem to find the resolutions I’d made for 2009, so I don’t know if I was able to mark anything off or wince and say “Okay, well, maybe next year.” I made it easy this year with a real easy title. So, without further ado, here’s my resolutions for 2010:

~ Write more on the daily – I only seem to do this when I’m in Writing Mode. I think I should be in Writing Mode more often and get into the habit of writing on one or both of my breaks.

~ Take a dance fitness class – I got hooked when I attended a few classes here, but got discouraged because a) it’s so far away. With traffic, it would’ve taken me over an hour and I’d only be there for 45 mins and b) the classes I wanted to take didn’t fit into my schedule. However, in doing research for Book 3, I found a place that’s closer and at a more reasonable time.

~ Find a YA crit partner – I’m so jealous every time Rinda talks about her crit partner. If I could find one person like that, whom I could trust implicitly with my work, I would be golden. So, uh, if you write YA Rom/Coms and/or mysteries and looking for a crit partner…holla

~ Finish writing Book 3 by June and start Book 4 by Sept – I’m not like other writers who put Speedy Gonzales to shame in the writing dept. I know what my limitations are and that gives me a little leeway. What I would like to do is just get through the whole series first–first rough draft–then go back and edit all of them. Just the idea of having them all “in the bag” would be a nice weight off.

~ Read more YA – I mean, hell, it’s the genre I write. So I should read more, right? I’m working on it. Really I am. I have a few in my TBR pile.

~ Try NaNoWriMo again – A fresh new story. No series, no outlining, pantsing all the way.

~ Be more green – I use eco-friendly cleaning products, eco-friendly laundry detergent, feed our cat organic food, use a couple of organic kitchen towels, and use energy-saving lightbulbs. I’m going to try and incorporate more, though. With help from Eco Mama and The Eco Diva, two blogs I read on the regular, I should have no problem doing my share to minimize my carbon footprint.

~ Offer up some Free Reads – I’m going to try my hand at writing flash fiction and/or short stories. I’ll either add another page to this website or create a separate blog space and display them there.

~ Get through this year of school without any breakdowns–mini or otherwise – Ahem….okay, moving on…

~ Travel – If there were rules for writers, one of the requirements should be traveling: “You are not a legitimate writer unless you’ve traveled to at least 3 places.” Or something like that. There are several places I want to visit–both in the US and internationally. I’d like to try and plan two trips a year: a small one in-state and then a big one out of state or country.

So, these are my resolutions. I should probably print this out as a reminder or something. So, what are your resolutions for 2010? Post your answers or link to your blog post in the Comments section.

Technorati Tags: 24Hour Fitness, Eco Mama, The Eco Diva