Archive for the 'Sunday Scribblings' Category

May 5, 2010 | Life in General,Sunday Scribblings,The 4-1-1 on Me

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

Bachelorette parties can be fun.

I went to one last Saturday.

We started out at the Maid of Honor’s house. We noshed on sweets and toasted with pink champagne (blech!). Don’t like the taste of alcohol.

We then went to Kobe Teppan and Sushi. Where we were promptly surrounded by teens dressed to the nines (prom night). There was 12 of us sitting at the table, and I’m pretty sure we were the rowdiest bunch there. It might’ve had something to do with sake being squirted into mouths on occasion by our “personal” chef.

Their mouths. Not mine. Don’t like the taste of alcohol.

Me and the designated drivers (I wasn’t one of them) get to watch everyone else make fools of themselves later. Makes for great blackmail material. Or, in my case, great story material. Hehe.

Then we danced off all the sushi appetizers and main entrees at Graham Central Station. They have several locations (mostly in Texas), but this is the place to go in my town if you want a variety of music in one place. The Country Room is the biggest side. Then you’ve got the Hip-Hop Room, the 80′s Room and the Karaoke Room smack dab in the middle.

We had one game planned for the bride-to-be. The more braver souls (I was not one of them) went around the clubs and pinned ribbons on random men. Becky, the bride to be, had to find these men and they had to do one of two things: kiss her on the cheek or buy her a drink. LOL. They then had to pin the ribbon on her back belt loop. By the end of the night, she had a nice little “ribbon” tail goin’ on.

Yes, it got interesting.

Especially when one of the ribbon holders was a Beer Girl.

Ah, bachelorette parties. I remember mine fondly.

Technorati Tags: Sunday Scribblings, Kobe Teppan and Sushi, Graham Central Station

April 25, 2010 | Life in General,Sunday Scribblings,The 4-1-1 on Me

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

The best–and most expensive dinner–was when we went to the The Melting Pot for dinner. It was for my birthday and I blogged about it here. It was our first experience that involved our meal being totally prepared at our table. In a pot. We thought it was pretty cool that the tabletop worked like a stove-top. And I found it interesting that all the waitstaff had to go to special training to learn how to do what they do. Because really, to explain how it all worked and how long you should cook your food, etc, I have a feeling these people were being paid more than minimum wage. And if they weren’t, they needed to.

I’d love to go there again and if there’s a Melting Pot in your area, you should seriously check it out. For any occasion.

Technorati Tags: Sunday Scribblings, The Melting Pot

April 21, 2010 | Dance Jam Productions,Sunday Scribblings,The 4-1-1 on Me,Writer Moment

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

This is an excerpt from Dance Jam Productions, available now.

…His face was just as unforgettable. A mischievous grin that started on one side of his mouth revealed straight, white teeth when the grin became a full-blown smile. Black eyebrows arched over green eyes that reminded Mattie of the waters of Maui, and his chiseled jawbone was reminiscent of a young Pierce Brosnan. The gorgeous gene was definitely swimming around in his genetic pool. He ran a casual hand through his hair, making Mattie wonder if it was as soft as it appeared. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as he slouched down on the couch and stretched his legs out before him. Sliding a section of hair behind one ear, he lazily flipped through the pages of a Dance America magazine. Mattie froze in her chair when he looked over at her for a long moment, before returning to the magazine in his hands.

Technorati Tags: Sunday Scribblings, Dance Jam Productions

April 11, 2010 | Draven Atreides, Teenage Informant Series,Life in General,Sunday Scribblings,The 4-1-1 on Me,Writer Moment

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

Deadline.

That’s a word we writers use a lot.

Most of us don’t like it. *raises hand*

The rest of us think it’s easy-peasy. *sticks out tongue and blows raspberry* Yeah. That’s how I feel about those people.

Whether you’re a self-pubbed writer–*raises hand again*–or a traditional writer, we’re all besieged by deadlines. As a self-pubbed author, however, you’re pretty much accountable for setting and meeting your own deadlines. There’s no one there hovering behind you (well, unless you’re part of an accountability group) or send you little reminders that it’s coming up or you’re way past it.

For the longest time, I was on the fence about going traditional. I would wobble back and forth so much, you’d think I was Humpty Dumpty. My first two books are self-pubbed and I was thinking about going traditional for the DA series. I’ve since decided to stick with the self-pubbed route and one of the reasons is deadlines.

Seriously.

That may sound lame to some, but not to me. And I’ll tell you why.

I know my limitations as a writer. I write slow and my Creative Mojo doesn’t work on a consistent basis. And by that, I mean one day I can make page goal and the next, I’m struggling to pull words from my noggin. A deadline dictated by someone else reminds me of those timed essays we had to take in English. I hated those. I can feel myself getting stressed out by just writing that.

I like writing under my own time, my own steam, not someone else’s. I like the idea of writing at my own pace and not having to worry about rushing. Because at that point, the writing feels forced. And when it feels forced, it’s no longer fun. It becomes a “have to” not a “want to.”

As a self-pubbed author, I do set deadlines for myself. They may be farther out than other writers, but again, I know me. And the only person accountable for those deadlines is me.

I’m not part of an accountability group.

I don’t have a crit partner.

And I’m not part of a crit group.

Like Beyonce says, it’s “me, myself and I”.

And for now, that works for me.

Technorati Tags: Sunday Scribblings, Humpty Dumpty, Beyonce

April 4, 2010 | "Whoa whoa I gotta go...back to schoooool...again",2nd Semester,Life in General,Nonprofit Explorations,Prescott College,School Daze,Spring 2010,Sunday Scribblings,The 4-1-1 on Me,WriterMentor,WriterVolunteer

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

Last year, I had the immense pleasure of being a mentor. From Sept to Dec I was a mentor through Free Arts AZ. For 14 weeks, another girl and I were placed at an all-girls group home. Every Saturday morning, for an hour, we drew, painted, wrote, cut and pasted, made bracelets…whatever. Basically, we played. These girls started to get used to us being there every week and couldn’t believe we were taking the time out of our lives to spend time with them. For free.

It was the best, most life-changing experience of my life.

I’ve been wanting to volunteer for a youth-based organization for a long time, but I was looking for a specific organization. And I found it with Free Arts AZ. They fit with the business I plan to open and I was able to utilize my writing skills there. I still volunteer for them when they have events on the weekends. If you ever get a chance to be a mentor for youth, do it. It will so change your life. I promise.

Currently, as I’ve mentioned numerous times before, I’m attending Prescott College to get my degree in Nonprofit Management. That business I mentioned above? I want to open a nonprofit writing center for teens. Actually, when starting out, it’ll probably just be different writing workshops, and not so much a building to conduct them in. I want to focus on putting these programs into public schools and youth-based nonprofit organizations.

But I digress.

The students who attend Prescott College create their own degree plan and then find mentors within their community—or nationally—to “mentor” the courses. They offer some online courses, but the majority of your degree plan is created by you. I’m actually looking for mentors for my classes right now, so if you’re interested, read all about it here. Since I know nothing about the nonprofit sector, I’m learning from the ground up and I created courses that, I hope, will prepare me for opening my own nonprofit. The Spring semester is almost over and the mentor for my Nonprofit Explorations course, Kristi, has been amazing. She’s also going to be the mentor for my Fundraising course. The difference between this college and other 4 yr colleges is that you’re learning by doing. You’re working side by side with a professional in the field and you’re getting hands-on experience. I think I learn best this way because I’m applying it as I learn it. And I’ll have all this knowledge for later.

The only thing that sucks for an introvert like me is going out and asking complete strangers to be my mentor. There’s a lot of stepping-outside-my-comfort-zone goin’ on, but I’m meeting some great people. And hopefully, I’ll be working with them in the future. On a professional level.

Technorati Tags: Sunday Scribblings