I coulda not posted today. To tell ya the truth I was looking to have some big topic on writing, some funny home spun yarn about my week, but nope, nada, nothing. I am winging this post, but I am making one.
Regular posting on Blog = WIN!!!!!
I shoulda joined in on the writers challenge with the folks over at Romantic Friday Writers, but I realized I not only didn't have anything that fit the challenge, I also had no time to write something up on the fly and be good enough to share. I am thinking I should have thought about that before entering said challenge, but I was so excited about joining in on something again, here in the Bloggerverse.
= SHOULDA
I AM gonna join in on the NaNoWriMo action next week. Honest Injun, I will take on the 30 days and nights of writing, however I shall be cutting the word count in half at 25,000 words and not 50,000. I am learning my present limitations. This is good. But my limitations will not limit my aspirations. I will continue to write.
= GONNA!!!!
So coulda, shoulda, woulda my writing?!?!?! Not gonna.
"The road to hell is paved with works-in-progress.”
~~~Philippe de Comines
I'd say the road to publication in paved with rejection letters. WIP's are not good intentions to me, they are proof that our dreams can become tangible, viable steps towards our goals. So, long live WIP's!!!!
BTW, check out NPR's website. They are starting up another round of Three-Minute Fiction, Laughing And Crying is the subject and per usual, a 600 word limit. Winners are read on the air and published on the web site. Take a peek.
I have a couple thank you's and a award to pay forward this Friday. First, a big long over due thank you to the ever multi-tasking and always generouse Lydia Kang at The World is My Oyster for the wonderful opportunity to win this... ...and a few other of it's deliciously wonderful smelling friends from...
I am LOVING the lavender soap. Thank you so much for the chance to enter your contest and congrats on making it past 300 followers. It was a wonderful prize. I am now no doubt hooked on the stuff!
Also, be sure to check out Doc Lydia's blog every Monday for Medical Mondays. Have a fiction related question regarding health and medicine, visit HERE and e-mail Lydia your question.
And a shout out and thank you to The Words Crafter over at The Rainy Day Wander, for awarding me The Bold Face Liar Creative Writer Award. I sort of hoping to get one of these. I love the concept. First, I am a wonderful liar. It's just true. But I have used it more for good and entertainment, I swear... *smirk* And second, I think a good fiction writer is a good liar. We fabricate stories around bits of truth and fiction, and then swindle others into believing the entirety of it. Journalist peddle the truth, Fiction Writers craft amazing lies. I truely have found my place.
So thank you my dear Words Crafter, and I shall pay this bit of fun forward. FYI, if you are not following this chick you are not one of the cool kids. So go HERE and enjoy yourself. You will find few bloggers so creative, supportive and thoughful of others in the bloggisphere.
So, the Rules atached to The Bold Face Liar Award...
The Bold Face Liar Creative Writer Award requires you to:
1. Thank the person who gave you the award and link to them.
2. Add the award to your blog.
3. Tell six outrageous lies about yourself and one truth. (Another variant: Tell six truths and one outrageous lie. YOU get to guess which variant I chose – and which statements are true, as well as which are lies.)
4. Nominate six creative liars writers and post links to them.
5. Let your nominees know that they have been nominated.
Can you figure out which group I went with? 6 lies or 6 truths? We'll see.
1. I visit China with my husband every 2-3 years.
2. I've seen a ghost.
3. I've talked a person out of killing someone.
4. I was published in Writers Digest.
5. I live in a fairly old and very creaky Colonial in the country.
6. DL at Cruising Altitude And a extra Bold Face Liar award goes out to whoever guesses my lie or truth first!!!!
Thanks all, and I hope to have some more blogfests and contests up for your viewing soon. And check out all the nice folks above. They're a batch of great 'liars' and blogging friends!
Again, I recommend entering one of these bits of entertainment, socialization and dare I say challenge to your writing skills.
While reading through many of the other entries, exchanging messages with other participants and browsing others blogs, I was reminded of what a great comfort having this creative outlet has been to me. I know I am not alone in my creative journey. That I have all of you--most I have never met face to face but found something in your entries that talked to me and made me a follower of you. You give me thought provoking articles, links, words of wisdom and folly. I enjoy or am moved by your stories and pictures. And I am given warmth when I get a personal message outside the blogisphere, showing me you have become more than a follower or followed, but a friend.
Having a blog, having followers (and I do not care if its just 5 or 500) has provoked me into being more aggressive with my writing schedule and my writing goals. Now that I have others eyes on me (paranoid much?) I feel more compelled to finish projects on time. 'Gettin er done' has taken on a more professional vibe for me--a good thing for a procrastinator.
And having this blog has sorta become my own version of mom's fridge. I cut, paste, link and write here, the things I have accomplished, things of pride and things I see as solid stepping stones on a right path.
So I raise my fresh brewed to you from under the steps and thank you for reminding me that I am not crazy! I am just a writer...
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BTW, a few upcoming blogfests to enjoy. If you have one coming up or know of one I do not have, drop me a line. I think when I hit my 100 mark, I will toss one of my own. *thinking*
What does a Work In Progress get happy about? What made me happy this week?
2,000 more words added to my WIP Ghost Mountain yesterday. (Check out the simple but happy little word counter on the left column. Watch her climb!)
My Focus on Fiction Group at my local B&N is this Sunday. A WIP--or at least this WIP, always looks forward to my writing groups.
Two jewelry pieces picked to be on Etsy Treasury this month. HERE and HERE!!!!!! It's nice being noticed by your creative peers. The newest pick was my Regal Beach Pearls and Crushed Velvet Multi-Strand Necklace.
Here is a BIG ;-D for the week. I won a $15.00 Gift Certificate for Barnes and Nobles for my entry and advertising of DL's High Drama Blogfest at Cruising Altitude. THANK YOU DL! And a big congrats to the other six winners! It was a blast!!!!!
How about the opportunity to join in on another wonderful Blogfest in the VERY near funture! Remember Jen at unedited, is throwing the Guess That Character Blogfest August 19th and 20th. That's tomorrow kids!!!!
I am thinking I may use that new bit of WIP that I was going to use for the Weather Blogfest but then said I was going to use today for WIP Wednesday. That will work.
I have also enjoyed new blog designs and Etsy Widgets this week. The Blog header was a pic I took of some of my things lain about--WIP sorts stuff, and then I used Adobe to play with the image a bit. And I do like the wider look of this new blog design a lot better. And the Etsy Widget can be found just under my followers and traslator. Cool, compact and useful I think. I know a few of you who follow have a Etsy shop, so check it out and see if ya want one for your own.
So what got the WIP in you all geared up and cheery. Share! It's good for the creative ego. Ya know ya wanna!
Welcome to my entry to DL's High Drama Blogfest and thank you DL for holding such a fest with so many possibilities. I urge all to stop by his cool blog Cruising Altitude and read all the other high drama entries!!!!!
I am still working through some plot issues in my own WIP, so I found this bit of fan fiction drama to fit. I wrote the original draft of this piece a couple years ago. It was for my ‘Chapters Series’, a Jericho Fan Fiction. My first multi-chapter anything. The below scene was originally 3,000 words, so it took a bit of editing to get it down around 1,000. That sort of heavy editing of story material was a learning experience all on it’s own, let me tell you. And DL, I am so glad you raised the number to around a 1,ooo. I like to build drama and that takes a few more words.
Now, when I wrote this bit, the show was still on its way to being canceled outside its first season. I made Jake become Sheriff, I had him talking with his dead granddad and father for closure purposes, I paired him with Heather and not Emily (do not get me started), and I made it a point to allow Jake and Heathers characters to grow. (REMINDER: Disclaimer, the show and characters are not mine...)
Months later, the show got another chance but was canceled in its second season (due to bad writing). They did make Jake the Sheriff and had him talk to his dead granddad, but they paired him with Emily and still had him acting like a half cocked gun.
Can ya tell it bothered me?
SO, my entry...
The MC of this story and this scene is Jake Green. He was once a rebel without a cause, but after the apocalypse, he becomes his town’s hero. He had a lot of baggage and in this scene he finally comes to a point where he wants to tell someone. That someone is Heather Lisinski , the town good girl and his love interest.He is telling the story from a hospital bed after once again saving the day through his own sacrifices.
~ENTRY~ENTRY ~ENTRY~ENTRY ~ENTRY~ENTRY ~ENTRY~
“Going overseas—it was like nothing I had ever known. If the situation had been better, it would have been one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Everything seemed so different. The places I went, the cultures I was submerged in...”
Jake leaned into his hospital bed, leveling his eyes on the emerging moon. It was getting more difficult to look at Heather. He wondered if she would have the same problem with him after his story was told.
“I’d made alot of local contacts in Baghdad. A man named Ahmad was one of our most trusted information peddlers. He was Sunni Tajik, wanted change, wanted peace, or whatever was passing for it. He believed the US could help…”
Jakes eyes narrowed at the moon outside his window.
“I liked him.” Jake finally spoke. “Ahmad had this twinkle in his eyes, like he knew something the rest of us didn’t. Something that made everything else bearable. I think that thing had been his family…” Jake trailed back into silence, thinking of the old widower and his six children; five sons and a girl…
In Jake's silences, Heather watched him. Her lover may as well have been on the moon the way he stared at it now. She felt him distancing himself and all she could do was listen and watch him go.
“We were waiting for our transport back to the airstrip with a group of US officials. Our transport was late—had to change route when fighting intensified on the southern end of the city…”
Thing about waiting, it left time open for situations to go wrong.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Fuck!” Jake irritably spat, taking one last drag off his cigarette, snuffing it out in the sand.
Rapid gunfire echoed out over the eastern corner of the city, making the newbie beside him jump. Jake shook his head while eyeing the surrounding buildings with the barrel scope on his riffle; only getting a view of vacant eyed windows and an unsettled feeling that they were not alone.
He’d told Ahmad about the buildings having eyes earlier in the week, when the elder man had invited him to his home. They’d just finished lunch with Ahmad’s extended family before sitting to watchthe younger children play ball in the back courtyard.
‘Shadows have eyes here, Jake Green.’ He’d said. ‘Make sure you do not blink.’
“You’ll get use to the sound.” Jake told the newbie without looking away from the buildings on the other side of the square.
“Get use to it!” Freddie raised a questioning brow to his unaffected superior. “When’s that happening?”
Jake smirked while he continued his watch, the sound of gunfire could be heard peppering the air several blocks from their position.
Jake was use to the gunfire. It was as common place to him as birdsong back home. But the sound of explosions still made him hold his gun tighter, his head dip down lower and his feet move.
“Green. Ready to roll. Transport in five.” Jake nodded to his communications officer then shouldered his weapon.
“We’re getting out of Dodge, Freddie.” Jake smirked. “Not a moment too soon.”
Jakes eyes drifted back across the street while he stepped towards the square. Something in the shadows caught his eye once more. It was small and moving quickly.
“Shoma?” Jake yelled in broken Farsi at the approaching form.
“Amal!” He heard Ahmad yell at the small figure and Jake realized it was the old mans daughter. “Amal stop!”
The roar of truck engines could now heard coming through the neighborhood.The girl continued her walk out to meet them in the square.
Amal had not come to see her father, but the men he was helping. Her oldest brother believed this action took honor away from their family. She was told, by doing this—she would be saving her family and her beloved father from great ruin. She was a good, obedient girl.
Jake yelled the girls name, now recognizing her, as the first truck cleared the street corner into the square. She had turned to her father and then to Jake; he would remember those frightened brown eyes for the rest of his days.
Jake followed her wide eyed gaze to the center of her small body and felt his insides burst with a numbing cold when he traced the outline of a bombers belt just under the young girl’s robes.
Jake watched her hand trail down to her side and he felt his gun rise as if in slow motion. Without hesitation, Jake made a choice…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Everyone hit the deck.” Jake’s voice was weak, a lifeless whisper. Heather kept her stunned silence. “None of it—what I had done, hit me till Ahmad ran into the square…”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“She would not have done it!” Ahmad’s voice rose in anguish as he cradled his daughter’s lifeless body in his arms. “I could have talked to her—my Amal!”
The old man’s words trailed out into a howl of misery as he tore the belt off his daughters limp form and threw it into the gutter, not caring if it exploded on impact.
Jake stepped closer, but stopped when he could see the girl’s lifeless face when her father layed her small body down to the bloody sand.
“You killed my girl!” The old man yelled.
“I had no choice…!” Jake screamed his only defense, dropping his weapon onto the street.
In that moment the old man charged down upon Jake, brandishing a dagger, consumed in a fathers rage.
“Nooooo!” Jake screamed as another gun shot rang out through the square.
Ahmad stopped within a few feet of Jake, his eyes wide with surprise. His knife fell from his hand. Before he could take another step, he fell dead in the street.
“He was gonna kill ya, Jake!”
“No choice…” Jake fell to his knees in the sand.
Time would pass after that day and he’d wish that Freddie had been a worse shot....
(End of entry but not of story. BTW, Heather didn't turn away after the story.)
FIND:I was catching up on my blog reading (still am) and found a FREE On Line Conference mentioned on the lovely Lydia Kang's Blog, The World is My Oyster.The WriteOnConis an online writer's conference for kidlit writers, but all are welcome, since many of the programs will deal with writing in general. For more details you can check out this page. It's being held next week.
Now you lovely folks now need to pay forward this pretty bit of blog bling to 5 other lucky bloggers you know and love. AND everyone else, stop by and check out these fairly new bloggers to the blogisphere.
As for Sharde, she is presently trying out a bit of a “social experiment” she is calling, I Write to You From…A very cool letter writing campaign this coming week. Check her out!!!!
And some reminders (who are friends)...
DL at Cruising Altitude has a prize filled High Drama Blogfest August 7th! So come one, come all!!!
And Roland at Writing In The Crosshairs continues hisstory, Ghost of a Chance. A wonderful tale about a writer and his amazing adventures through fictional worlds of his own making, while accompanied by the ghostly embodiments of his many writerly muses. At present, he is being accused of killing ghosts and on the run!!!
Today I'm making timely use of Donna Hole's Milestones Blogfest! A chance to toot your or someone else's horn! I plan to do both and very simply.
As of this week, I now have 50 followers. I like to think of that as a milestone in bloggerland. And I want to thank all of you who have stopped by, read my rambling prattle and decided it was interesting enough to stick around to read more of said prattle. Again, thank you so much for stopping by and staying.
I would also like to send a shout out to all the lovely bloggers who have and will be holding blogfests in the near future...
* DL at Cruising Altitude has a prize filled High Drama Blogfest August 7th!
Hello folks. First, I figured out how to work my new Net Book Webcam this morning (Does that look like a morning face or what?). I am happy that my Net Book bits work, but taking my own pic this way felt kinda--oh, I don't know? Vain?!? I really am a young old fuddy duddy.
Anywho...
This Friday Under the Steps I have a award to pass on to some nice folks and a update on any Blogfests you might not have found on your own. (If you have one I missed, lay it on me and I will add it to the list. Thanx!)
Not long ago The Words Crafter at The Rainy Day Wanderer awarded me The Versatile Blogger Award. Thank you my blogger buddy. And with this particular award comes a few rules:
Thank the giver(s) and link back to their blog(s).
Share seven things about yourself that others probably don't know.
Pass along to eight (originally fifteen) bloggers. Criteria: Adaptable, Flexible, Multifaceted, Resourceful, Multi-talented, and Versatile Bloggers.
Comment on their blogs to let them know about their award.
Again, thank you Words Crafter!!!!!!! And now a little bit about me...
I grew up poor. As in lived in a trailer, grandma had a outhouse till I was 12, rural poor.
I worked in the Mental Health field for over a decade. Started while I was still in college.
I have 3 cats. Napoli, Angelina, and Isis (or Issy The Flying Cat)
I really do enjoy being married.
I wrote fan fiction under the name Ann Pendragon.
I once chased off a group of drug addled teenagers trying to steal my car with a pair of scissors and a whole lot of obscenities. It was at a job site. The car was a piece of shit, but it was my POS.
Up until I was a pre-teen I wanted to be a paleontologist, a archeologist or a cop. A secret agent on really energetic days. I switched up these dreams about every other month. ;-P
NOW, the 8 lovely bloggers I shall pass on The Versatile Blogger Award... (And I hate picking people for these things because I know I have left someone out that I also enjoyed very much!)
Winner will be Announce July 2nd. You still have time to enter! Facebook counts as a share. The weight of the beads are 7 1/2 pounds! Well OVER $350.00 worth of beads out of my bead stash! Some still have the tags on them! Followers have a vote. Split the stash 6 ways for more happy or one big prize. Sign up today! There is still time.
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= SHOULDA
= GONNA!!!!
