Archive for the 'Weekend Wrap-Up' Category

July 8, 2008 | Book One, Book Stuff, DA Series, Draven Atreides, Life in General, The 4-1-1 on Me, Weekend Wrap-Up

Hope you all had a great and safe July 4th holiday. In some parts of the valley here the fireworks were cancelled due to rain. I’m sure that was a major disappoint for some children, but what with it being so dry here right now, I’m thinking that was a good thing. I can just imagine all the fires that would’ve been started. And we really needed the rain. Last Thursday, the day before the holiday, me, the hubby, my sister and her husband went to The Improv to see Michael Winslow. Y’know, the dude from all those Police Academy movies who makes those sound effects? He was really, really fantastic. He does a great impression of Jimi Hendrix and he nearly brought down the house when he rolled a movie clip from Star Wars #4 and did the sound effects for EVERYTHING: explosions, gunfire, Chewbacca, interaction between Luke, Han Solo and Leia (he made her lines real funny)…OMG he was so great we gave him a standing ovation at the end. It’s just amazing all the sounds he can make.

Friday, I had a business breakfast with my BF at La Grande Orange. Their organic coffee was faboo. We talked a little about business, but we needed to be someplace quiet, with no distractions. I don’t think we wanted to cover half the stuff we wanted to, but we knocked out some ideas. After that, we went to go visit a mutual friend who’d had a baby. Deacon is now 5 months old and the cutest little boy. Saturday, the hubby and I went to see Hancock. It didn’t get really good reviews, but I usually trust what Roger Ebert has to say, and I agreed with him this time: B. It was an interesting take on the superhero thing (even when his costume resembled one borrowed from the X-Men set), but there was the whole “So, where are you from? Really?” I hate when I want to know more and they don’t give it to you. Or you’re left to figure it out for yourself. And, unlike all those other superhero type movies, the so-called villain really wasn’t much of a match for Hancock. It was good, but I think I’m ready for another action flick from him. Something along the lines of Bad Boys. He’s a good action hero.

Sunday, the hubby and I worked on the book cover again. I have the idea in my head, but for some reason, it’s not turning out the way I want it to. Something’s missing—or not working out right—so we’re letting it stew. I don’t plan to get outside opinions, so don’t get your hopes up about me asking you all. LOL. Speaking of input, I want to thank everyone for their opinions regarding the business site. It was all very much appreciated. I do plan to announce when it goes live, so you’ll be able to see the finished product.

As you all know by now, I’ve pushed back the Book One release date to April 2010, instead of next year. The program I was referring to yesterday is called Crafting the Character-Based Novel taught by Pamela Goodfellow of Goodfellow Publishing. It’s a 3-Level course (Crafting, Polishing, Publishing) that will take 78 weeks to complete. A former university professor, when Pamela taught this program, it was a 3 yr gig. Obviously, she’s either going to be cramming a lot into her sessions or she’s going to be leaving stuff out. Either way, I’m looking forward to honing my craft and making the DA series the best they can be. I might even have to go back to my first two books and do a little overhaul.

So, enough about me. How was your holiday weekend?

Technorati Tags: The Improv, Michael Winslow, Police Academy, Jimi Hendrix, Star Wars, La Grande Orange, Hancock, Roger Ebert, X-Men, Bad Boys, Crafting the Character-Based Novel, Pamela Goodfellow, Goodfellow Publishing

July 1, 2008 | Book One, Book Stuff, DA Series, Draven Atreides, Life in General, Miss Snitch Mondays, Movie Queue, The 4-1-1 on Me, Weekend Wrap-Up, writing workshops

Saturday, I attended a writing class taught by former university professor and indie pub owner, Pamela Goodfellow of Goodfellow Publishing. She teaches a 3-Level, 8-week program, Crafting the Character-based Novel out of her home. She likes her classrooms smaller nowadays. Needless to say, I’m looking forward to taking the program and her being my editor. Saturday’s session had to do with scenes. I learned so much that I’ve decided to share the highlights with all you writers out there:

1) Get rid of dialogue attributions. These are the words you tag when your characters are talking: she said, she beamed, she laughed, she cried out, she teased, etc. I had no idea those even had a name until I took her class. Unfortunately, I do that a lot. As I’m sure all you other writers out there do, too. Pam says “If you are writing in character, you do not need to use dialogue attributions because the reader already knows who is talking or thinking. To show the reader this you may use action, reaction or emotional responses. You can also set up gestures and tagged responses for the reader to get to know the style of dialogue for each character. It is not easy to do. The simple thing to do is to use and attribution. But, if you want to write in character you must force yourself to learn by never using them.”

2) The 3 stages of human emotional response are visceral (physical), behavioral (instintive and learned response) and chosen (where the story is)

3) Every scene has to have a hook.

4) Use place holders in your scenes. It’s basically explaining something that the reader should already know. Pam says “You use a place holder because you know the reader will understand it; usually a cliché’s or an explanation of something that had happened earlier in the character’s history. If you recognize this in your own work, when you go back to revise and edit, you can take that place holder out and write a scene to set up what you were trying to explain in the original scene. Then when the reader gets to the original scene he/she will already have the information needed and will feel so very smart to understand the emotions of the character he/she has become attached to. It is really a secret to “showing” and not “telling”.”

4) A character cannot have the same emotional curve at the beginning than they do at the end. Emotional Curve is the name given to describe the emotional development of a character throughout the story. For instance, a character who starts out cynical and untrusting of men at the beginning of a story can’t remain like that by the end. It doesn’t have to be a happy ending, but you have to show the character as growing and changing emotionally. Pam says, “It is the emotional changes that make the story real and relevant to the reader.”

One thing she did tell me was that I’d have to change it from present tense to past tense. That’s going to be a lot of work. Good thing I’m up for the challenge. Clearly, I myself need to grow as an author still–and as we all know, learning to be a better writer is a never-ending process–and I look forward to working with her.

Saturday night, the hubby and I went to see Wanted. Very. Cool. Movie. We loved it. It even had some supernatural undertones to it, which made it even more interesting. I mean, besides the fact that they were a secret society of assassins, they have this…unusual ability. The hero (James McAvoy) thought he was having anxiety attacks, only to find out it was nothing close. The one thing I’ve discovered lately is that–SPOILER AHEAD–I don’t like it when Morgan Freeman plays the bad guy. I haven’t seen his full repetoire of movies, but this is the third movie (Chain Reaction, Lucky Number Slevin being the first two) in which he’s been the bad guy and I don’t like it. I realize actors and actresses need to mix it up a bit, but he doesn’t appear evil to me. I can’t picture him torturing someone or being the mastermind behind a plot to do harm. Some people have it and some people don’t. He’s one of the people that doesn’t.

On Sunday… (more…)

Technorati Tags: Pamela Goodfellow, Goodfellow Publishing., Crafting the Character-based Novel, Wanted., James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman, Chain Reaction, Lucky Number Slevin

June 24, 2008 | Book One, Book Stuff, DA Series, Draven Atreides, Life in General, Miss Snitch Mondays, Movie Queue, Must-See DVD, The 4-1-1 on Me, Voracious Reader, Weekend Wrap-Up

Saturday morning, my BF and I attended a business mtg. I needed a consult and seeing as how my BF owns 20% of my company (she’s the V.P.), I thought she needed to be “in the know”. Afterwards, we were supposed to hit up a coffee shop and talk more business, but I wasn’t in the mood. So, instead we hit up Ross, where she bought me a most wonderful belated birthday gift: a Buxton Womens Laptop carrying case in Sage

sage.jpg

Isn’t it great? I love it. It’s to replace the one that got destroyed during a PMS moment.

Ahem

Moving on…we then moseyed on over to Chandler Fashion Mall to check out this new store called BareEscentuals. I wanted to check out their Bare Minerals line of make-up. All natural make-up. I’m all for natural. Their foundation even has SPF 15! That’s plus when you’re living in It’s-So-Damn-Hot-It-Feels-Like-A-Blow-Dryer, AZ. Seriously, I think they just need to change the name from Phoenix, AZ to Damn Hot, AZ. I just scoped it out, wanted to eyeball the products up close and personal. I didn’t buy anything, but I plan to.

We then hit up my other favorite place…The Body Shop, where I bought some Moringa Body Scrub.

Have you smelled this stuff? It’s absolutely wonderful. I happened to see it online and knew, without even smelling it, that I would like it. When I got a GC to this place for my birthday, I hotfooted it over there and bought the shea body butter. That was the first time I smelled it and I LOVE IT. My BF bought me some Perfume Oil in Sequin Sparkle as another birthday gift

It smells great. A very light floral scent. She thought the name sounded whimsical (my BF is pretty whimsical herself) and ended up liking the way it smelled. The fact that it was on sale for $2 (and I get a 10% discount with my card) was a bonus. Speaking of discounts…we came into the mall through Barnes and Noble. The plan was to hit up Starbucks and then check out that other store.

“As long as I don’t end up in the romance section, I’ll be fine,” I tell her.

We ended up sharing some kind of S’Mores treat (that really wasn’t all that good) and chatting for a little bit.

“I have to go to the bathroom,” she says.

And it was all over but the cryin’. I ended up in the romance section. Had no intention of buying any books because I’d just bought 7 books online at eHarlequin.

Until I saw these

And it was all over but the cryin’. Again.

I’ve read every book in Lynsay Sands’ Argeneau Vampire series except for Book One. I just got finished reading Books 7, 8 & 9. I hadn’t read these two yet. They were on my list. I couldn’t pass them up.

The next thing I know, I’m snapping them off the shelf and beating a hasty retreat to checkout.

“I really need to find my friend-” (lost in the New Age section, BTW) “—and get the hell outta here.”

That night, the hubby and I watched this movie

Breach, with Ryan Phillipe. Have you seen it? Very good movie. It’s based on a true story about an FBI agent wanna-be who was instrumental in getting his boss, Agent Robert Hanssen, convicted for selling secrets to the Soviet Union. Yeah. I know. Deep.

On Sunday, (more…)

Technorati Tags: Ross, Buxton, Chandler Fashion Mall, BareEscentuals, Bare Minerals, The Body Shop, Moringa Body Scrub., Sequin Sparkle, Barnes and Noble, Starbucks, eHarlequin, Lynsay Sands’ , Argeneau Vampire, Breach, Ryan Phillipe

June 17, 2008 | Calendar of Events, Life in General, Movie Queue, The 4-1-1 on Me, Weekend Wrap-Up

CLICK ON THE PHOTOS FOR A BIGGER VIEW

So my big weekend was being a vendor at the Girlfriend Getaway Conference held by TIPofaz. I drove up Friday afternoon and stayed overnight. I sold 8 copies of my books, so the price of the table (which I was supposed to share with another person) was worth it. I made back my half even though I had to foot the hotel room bill myself. I stayed at the Prescott Resort in Prescott, AZ.

Bucky’s Casino is connected to the place, too. I don’t gamble, but I wanted to check it out. Very smokey place. I thought the statue was pretty unique, but I’m not sure of the meaning behind it. My room was fantabulous:

The first two pictures are the sitting area when you first walk in and the couch is a pull-out. My bed was king-sized, wonderfully soft, with 250 thread count sheets. Sweet! And the view from my balcony wasn’t bad, either:

Should you ever want to get married here, they have the perfect venue in front of the hotel, in a quaint area hidden behind some trees in the parking lot:

The views from this site were great, too, and I even found a little Peter Rabbit:

And here are some of the vendors: (more…)

Technorati Tags: Girlfriend Getaway Conference, Prescott Resort

June 10, 2008 | Book One, Book Stuff, DA Series, Draven Atreides, Family Portrait, Life in General, Miss Snitch Mondays, 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