Archive for the 'Revision Hell' Category

June 10, 2008 | Book One,Book Stuff,Draven Atreides,Draven Atreides, Teenage Informant Series,Family Portrait,Life in General,Movie Queue,Revision Hell,The 4-1-1 on Me,Weekend Wrap-Up

My weekend was a little busy, but laid back. On Friday nite, the hubby and I went to 10 o’clock show at The Improv (a comedy club) to check out Craig Robinson. For those of you that have no idea who I’m talking about, he was the niteclub doorman in the movie Knocked Up and apparently was in 6 episodes of The Office. I never watched that show, but I heard it was funny. The thing is…he wasn’t. Funny, that is. It was like he used up all his material–if he had any to begin with–during his 8 o’clock show. Part of his act was playing the keyboard, which he did quite well. Then he played this “dating game” thing with a male member of the audience, bringing three single females up on stage. It was quite lame and I would’ve been highly disappointed if I’d paid to see him. But I didn’t. I’d won, like, 6 free tickets to this venue thru a raffle (thanks Mom and Dad). There are restrictions galore attached to these tickets, but we got lucky with this one–or unlucky, as the case may be. How sad is it that the guy who opened up for him was better than the main act? Sad, but true.

July 3-6, Michael Winslow (the dude from those Police Academy movies that makes those sound effects with his mouth) is coming and we’ve made plans with some other couples to check it out. I know I won’t be able to use my free tickets for this, but seeing this guy in action would be worth a paid ticket. I think seeing Michael would make up for Craig’s crappy performance.

Saturday night, me, the hubby, my sister, her husband, a co-worker and her husband and baby had dinner at King’s Fish House to celebrate my birthday. And then just four of us went to see Don’t Mess With The Zohan. I’ve never really been a big fan of Adam Sandler and I was once again reminded why after seeing this movie. It’s stupid funny, like Hot Shots! or those Loaded Weapon movies. Some parts were roll-your-eyes funny, some were cover-your-eyes-and-groan funny, and some were just downright funny. And he was in great shape, too. I think he had to be though because in some of those shots he was shirtless. And nude. But I think I like him in more comedy-drama roles like The Wedding Singer or Spanglish.

Sunday, I spent the majority of my time at my parents house. We’re planning our family reunion and had to nix the first venue due to outraegeous food prices: $60/pp for breakfast and $100/pp for dinner!! If your response is “Holy shit“, that was ours, too. We spent our time narrowing down our other options before finally choosing Grace Inn. Now we can concentrate on everything else.

Revision Hell Update: I don’t know why I keep calling it Revision Hell. I’m done with the writing part, as you know, but I’m still typing it up. You’ll be happy to know that I’m almost done. Just a couple more chapters. Hope you all are enjoying Chapter One so far. If you love it, and want to get a copy hot off the press next year, be sure to sign up for the Pre-Order Notification List at the end of each post.

All in all, it was a great birthday week/weekend. The hubby got me a $25 GC to Barnes and Noble, a $15 Starbucks GC, and slice of Cream Cheese Pie from Marie Callender’s. Isn’t he just faboo? I love their pie! And I got a $25 AMC GC from the parental unit. Normally, they give me money and I was hoping to get that this time. But I can use it this weekend when the hubby and I go see The Incredible Hulk.

So, how was your weekend?

Technorati Tags: The Improv, Craig Robinson, Knocked Up, The Office, Michael Winslow, Police Academy, King’s Fish House, Don’t Mess With The Zohan, Adam Sandler, Hot Shots, Loaded Weapon , The Wedding Singer, Spanglish., Grace Inn, Barnes and Noble, Starbucks, Cream Cheese Pie, Marie Callender’s, The Incredible Hulk

May 12, 2008 | Book One,Book Stuff,Draven Atreides,Draven Atreides, Teenage Informant Series,Family Portrait,Life in General,Movie Queue,Revision Hell,The 4-1-1 on Me,Weekend Wrap-Up,Writing Movements

I hope you all had a great Mother’s Day. Both mothers and non-mothers alike. Friday night, I went with my parents to see my niece’s 5 minute Film Shorts Festival. 100 scripts had been submitted, they’d narrowed it down to 20, and hers had won first place! I’m so proud of her and she did such a great job. As a writer, we’re constantly asked of any similarities between us and our characters. I can honestly say that when her play, “Don’t Quit Your Day Job”, was being acted out, I could picture her saying some of those lines:

“I said sip it, not inhale it.”

It was very funny and I laughed hysterically during one play titled “My Son Johnny.” And my throat got tight during another, “45th Infantry.” That one hit close to home because I’m sure there were some people in the audience that had family members over in Iraq. All of the plays were written by the students and directed by the students. During the time my niece went to this school, I made sure that I caught all of her performances and it never ceases to amaze me how talented these teens are. She’s graduating next month and plans to spend the summer in California with one of her father’s cousins, who makes commercials. Maybe something will come up and she’ll get a break. I may be biased, but my niece is super talented.

Saturday, I “stimulated” the economy by spending my half of the check we got back from the IRS. I bought a couple of sundresses on sale at Old Navy, bought Mother’s Day gifts for my Mom ($25 Bucca di Beppo GC), sister (Prosperity Pie by SARK…which it turns out she already has a copy.) and co-worker ($20 Old navy GC). Bought a birthday gift (drawing pad and colored pencils) for said co-worker’s 8 yr old daughter. She celebrated her birthday yesterday. Ate breakfast at my favorite place, The Original Pancake House, and went to see a movie (Speed Racer). I’ll get to the little movie review in a minute, but I also did some research for the DA Book One.

A local resort spa was the inspiration behind the spa in the current story and I’m at a certain point in my revisions where I needed a visual of a home that can be rented. A really pricey rental home. I called down there the day before to see if I could take a tour and was given permission. Needless to say, the pictures on the website didn’t do it justice. Seeing it in person was pretty cool. I’m so glad I was able to see it because it was just what I needed. Normally, I would’ve post the link and let you guys have a look-see, too, but that will come later. I’m going to have a website created for the series some time in August and when I give a little back story about each book, I plan to include the local places that inspired me: mostly links, but hopefully some pictures, too.

So, the whole Speed Racer thing… (more…)

Technorati Tags: Old Navy, Bucca di Beppo, Prosperity Pie, SARK, The Original Pancake House, Speed Racer

April 28, 2008 | Book One,Book Stuff,Draven Atreides,Draven Atreides, Teenage Informant Series,Life in General,Revision Hell,Writing Movements

Still going well. I got 15 handwritten pages in this week. It may not seem like a lot in the grand scheme of things, but it’s revisions. As I mentioned in my last report, I can still use some of the previous material.

There’s going to be a “special announcement” on May 2nd regarding this book. It was an idea I read about and thought would be a great way to generate interest in the book–as well as the series. So, I’m stealing it. LOL.

Stop by my place this Friday to find out what the big news is.

April 21, 2008 | Book One,Book Stuff,Draven Atreides,Draven Atreides, Teenage Informant Series,Life in General,Revision Hell,The 4-1-1 on Me,Writing Movements

Hasn’t been as hellish as I thought it would be. Another 27 handwritten pages are under my belt, several pages have gotten tossed and some of the old material is still being used or written over. A common pattern I’ve seen is “Chapter This” is now “Chapter That”, “Chapter This” no longer exists, and “Chapter That” has now been combined with “Chapter This.” The December release date I had planned has now been changed to April 17 of 2009. That day is Teen Literature Day and I thought, what better day to drop a book?

So, it’s good. Revisions are going well. I’m going to go for a May 31st finish deadline. Hope I can stick with it. Wish me luck.

Technorati Tags: Teen Literature Day

April 14, 2008 | Book One,Book Stuff,Calendar of Events,Draven Atreides,Draven Atreides, Teenage Informant Series,Life in General,Revision Hell,Writing Movements

Friday night I had a book reading at a coffee shop. I normally don’t forget to post events on here, but I forgot to do so for this event. However, Draven was kind enough to post it on her blog. Thanks, D. This is my second time doing it and it’s hosted by Monsoon Voices Live Literary Magazine: Spoken Word, Poetry, Prose and Song. Authors and musicians submit their pieces and if chosen, have approximately 6 minutes to read or sing their piece. Hence, the Live Literary part. If you’re a musician or an author wanting some exposure, and live in the Phoenix area, contact Traci and Patrick at monsoonvoices@cox.net. The next event is Friday, May 23rd and the submission deadline is May 9th. If you have merchandise, you’re allowed to sell it. I sold two books.

This time it wasn’t as packed, but normally, by the time we get started–or even after the first two performers–it’s standing room only. Those are good, but this time was better. Our musician of the nite was Darin Mahoney of Mahoney Guitars. He makes and repairs instruments. He plays guitar too and he does it beautifully. The first song (all of his songs are instrumental, by the way) he played was called Woodland and it was about his mother’s favorite place. He set the scene by giving us a visual:

“Picture yourself by a lake, anyplace, anywhere, the sun is starting to go down, birds calling, crickets chirping lazily, a slight wind rustling thru the trees…this piece starts out with a few chords from my mother’s favorite song.”

Her favorite song is Amazing Grace.

Tears welled up in my eyes when he began to play. It was a different version of a song I’d heard so many times, even though it was only the first stanza. The whole song, beginning to end, just moved me. The songs he played after were just as fantastic. Maybe it’s because he’s 10 yrs cancer free (creative people tend to write great stuff and we’re going thru something). A cancer that was terminal but obviously not, because he was performing that night. I can guarantee the chemo he went thru was more vigorous than what my father got. His CD comes out at the end of the summer and I’m looking forward to buying a copy. He said that sometimes be performs with a violinist. I can just imagine how that would sound and would like to see him perform again.

My other favorite was Nadine Lockhart, who had some great poems about an 87 yr old aunt who’d recently passed away and a poem that had the word “panty” in it 36 times. LOL. That one got a lot of laughs. After the event, as I was driving home, I called my BF because Darin’s music was still resonating with me. I was reminded of her and I knew she would’ve liked it, too. For the next 20 minutes we talked and cried. She had been going thru a spiritually cleansing exercise that night and she suspected I had felt her energy. I think I was feeling Darin’s too.

Saturday was a do-nothing day. The hubby went hiking with his BF, so I had a little quiet reading time in the morning. He was in the mood for ice cream later, so we hit up Swensen’s. Sunday, I did laundry (GOD, HOW I HATE DOING LAUNDRY), spent some time typing up revisions, and working on the book cover. I hit a 4 ft wall in the writing movement process on Friday. Rader had just dropped a verbal bomb on Draven and I was instructed by my editor to get to “the plan” quicker; and throw more obstacles in their path in getting to the bottom of the case. If I think about it too much, I might get stressed. The hubby hates it when I get stressed because he can’t do anything about it. My BF says I should meditate more and I think she’s right.

Sunday night, we had dinner with friends at the Salty Seniorita, a place with great Mexican food and 50,000 different types of margaritas. Okay, not that many but close to it. For the record, I rarely drink. A few years ago, I tried the berry sangria at Olive Garden. That’s the only alcoholic drink I like–and am willing to drink–and since most restaurants we go to don’t have it, I hardly drink. If they do happen to have it, it’s in a glass so freakin’ big there’s no way I’d be able to finish it. In general, my family is not a drinking family. My Dad always had a semi-stocked mini bar, but it was only for guests. The bottles of liquor had been down there for so long, they were caked in dust. When they moved into the new house, he probably tossed it. Or my Mom did. We both have a nasty habit of just throwing stuff away, thinking we–or anyone else–will ever need it again. Anyhow, dinner was fun. It was us and two other couples. Lost of laughter and margarita drinking(on their parts) abounded.

So, how was your weekend?

Technorati Tags: Monsoon Voices Live Literary Magazine: Spoken Word, Poetry, Prose and Song, Darin Mahoney, Mahoney Guitars, Woodland, Amazing Grace, Nadine Lockhart, Salty Seniorita, , Olive Garden