Archive for the 'Sunday Scribblings' Category

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

April 1, 2010 | Dance Jam Productions,Draven Atreides,Draven Atreides, Teenage Informant Series,Life in General,Secrets and Kisses,Sunday Scribblings,The 4-1-1 on Me,Writer Moment

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

So, I looked up the word.

Seriously.

I’ve heard of it, but have never ever heard anyone use it in a sentence. LOL. It’s such an old-fashioned word. Who would even use it in today’s society? So I looked it up and liked the second definition:

a power or process of transforming something common into something special

I would use this definition to describe what I do. I transform something common into something special. Miz Rinda Elliott, I think this needs to be on a shirt.

The Writer’s Alchemy: We transform something common into something special.

You make it, I’ll buy it.

When I was young, I used to talk to myself. I used to have long, in-depth conversations. No, I didn’t have an imaginary friend. No, no one ever answered back. And no, the conversations were never two-sided. I don’t remember what the conversations were about, but I bet they were damn good. It all starts with an active imagination.

My first book, Secrets and Kisses, is a twist on one of my favorite 80′s TV shows, 21 JUMP STREET.

My second book, Dance Jam Productions, is 50% reoccurring dream and 50% real-life. Once I wrote it, I stopped having the dream.

The main character from my YA series, Draven Atreides, Teenage Informant, is based off of my then 16-yr-old-now-20-yr-old niece.

Writers are a unique breed of people who utilize our own brand of alchemy. We take bits and pieces of this and that and Poof! Voila! Abracadabra! a full-length novel appears once the smoke clears.

Yeah. I’m diggin’ it.

Technorati Tags: Sunday Scribblings, Rinda Elliott, Secrets and Kisses, 21 JUMP STREET, Dance Jam Productions

March 21, 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: Demands

“If you were a mega ridiculous superstar on tour – what would your demands be?”

This is right up there with “If I won the lottery, this is what I would do.” This is something that I’ve truly never thought about, so my demands are going to be small and simple in comparison to J. Lo or Mariah Carey.

If I was a super megastar YA writer on a book tour, these would be my demands:

Transportation -

~ Private jet with king-sized bed that contains 300 count organic sheets; a frig filled with bottled water from a secret wellspring in Ireland and sweetened Mountain Peak and raspberry and green tea; two wall-mounted wide-screen TV’s

~ Limo to and from event

Room Accommodations –

~ 5-star eco-friendly B-and-B’s only, no hotel rooms.

~ Fresh Gerber daisies in the room daily.

At my book signing table –

~ 4 bottles of fresh water flown in from a secret wellspring in Ireland.

~ Vase of fresh Gerber daisies

My main demand is that I only visit warm places. If I have a signing in cold places like New York or Chicago, I’ll only go during the spring or summer. My fingers cannot hold a pen in cold weather. So sorry.

So, what about you? If you were a mega superstar on tour, what would your demands be?

Technorati Tags: Sunday Scribblings, Mountain Peak

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