Archive for the 'The 4-1-1 on Me' Category

March 11, 2010 | Life in General, Sunday Scribblings, The 4-1-1 on Me

I missed this one a few weeks ago, so I’m doing it today. Today’s word of the day is brought to you by Sunday Scribblings: Big Dreams

I’ve got three big dreams:

1) Opening a nonprofit writing center for teens. For all those aspiring young authors who want to learn the art of writing…in all its formats.

2) Write full-time. Of course, I’ll need to win the lottery in order to do that. Or make enough money from Dream #1.

3) Write an adult romance book. If you read the Sunday Scribblings #205 post, then you know where I’m coming from on this.

Technorati Tags: Sunday Scribblings

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

March 8, 2010 | Family Portrait, Life in General, Movie Queue, The 4-1-1 on Me, Weekend Wrap-Up

There’s still time to inspire an at-risk teen to write. Donate a journal

Friday evening, I went to see VALENTINE’S DAY. This reminded me of the movie CRASH, in the way that all the characters in the movie were connected somehow. The best part was that I had the whole theater to myself. Yes. The whole theater. I could’ve run up and down the aisles, screaming my head off. And no one would’ve known. Or heard me. Pretty cool. So, I was impressed by the whole interconnectivity of it all, but they should’ve replaced Taylor Swift with Miley Cyrus.

Seriously. She already has the blonde wig.

Or maybe she should’ve received a few pointers from Miley’s acting coach. I was wholly unimpressed with her acting. It’s like she was trying too hard to be a ditzy, empty-headed blonde because we all know she’s not like that in real life. As the gang from High School Musical 2 sang, “stick to the status quo.” Singing is your “thang”, honeybabydoll. Don’t stray until you’ve got a few more lessons under your belt.

Moving on…..the rest of my weekend was pretty uneventful. Mr. Maul was sick all weekend, though we managed to eat at Ron’s Place on Saturday and do a little shopping afterwards. It was cold and rainy on Sunday and that called for staying in.

Still trying to upload pics from our Orlando vacation. I was going to do a daily breakdown and realized that it was going to take too long. If I had written it ahead of time, I would’ve done it. Now all you’re going to get is a link to my flickr account. So sorry. I’ll let you know when it’s all been uploaded.

So, how was your weekend? Did you watch the Oscars? Who won?

Technorati Tags: VALENTINE’S DAY, CRASH, Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, High School Musical 2

March 3, 2010 | Random Thoughts, The 4-1-1 on Me

The last time I wrote a Random Thought was 12-30-2009. LOL. I thought it had been longer than that, but I guess not. I got this one from a friend a few days ago:

Children Write About the Ocean…

1 ) – This is a picture of an octopus. It has eight testicles. Kelly, age 6

2) – Oysters’ balls are called pearls. Jerry, age 6

3) – If you are surrounded by ocean, you are an island. If you don’t
have ocean all round you, you are incontinent. Alex, age 7

4) – Sharks are ugly and mean, and have big teeth, just like Emily
Richardson . She’s not my friend any more. Kylie, age 6

5) – A dolphin breaths through an asshole on the top of its head. Billy, age 8

6) – My uncle goes out in his boat with 2 other men and a woman and
pots and comes back with crabs. Millie, age 6

7) – When ships had sails, they used to use the trade winds to cross
the ocean. Sometimes when the wind didn’t blow the sailors would
whistle to make the wind come. My brother said they would have been
better off eating beans. William, age 7

– Mermaids live in the ocean. I like mermaids. They are beautiful
and I like their shiny tails, but how on earth do mermaids get
pregnant? Like, really? Helen, age 6

9) – I’m not going to write about the ocean. My baby brother is always
crying, my Dad keeps yelling at my Mom, and my big sister has just got
pregnant, so I can’t think what to write. Amy, age 6

10) – Some fish are dangerous. Jelly fish can sting. Electric eels can
give you a shock. They have to live in caves under the sea where I
think they have to plug themselves into chargers. Christopher, age 7

11) – When you go swimming in the ocean, it is very cold, and it makes
my willy small. Kevin, age 6

12) – Divers have to be safe when they go under the water. Divers
can’t go down alone, so they have to go down on each other.
Becky, age 8

13) – On vacation my Mom went water skiing. She fell off when she was going very fast. She says she won’t do it again because water fired right up her big fat ass. Julie, age 7

14) – The ocean is made up of water and fish. Why the fish don’t drown I don’t know. Bobby, age 6

15) – My dad was a sailor on the ocean. He knows all about the ocean.. What he doesn’t know is why he quit being a sailor and married my mom. James, age 7