Mix tape memories, Part II

March 26, 20131 Comment

Last night I saw a Buzzfeed post on Facebook about the Backstreet Boys doing a Harlem Shake video. I missed out on that particular sensation, but I still love the Backstreet Boys, so I had to see this one. I still don’t get the whole Harlem Shake thing, but whatever. This made my night:

Also this:

If you don’t know why, then you need to go and watch the video for “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)”. It’s terrible and cheesy and I can’t believe it’s the sort of thing I adored as a teenager, but there you have it. High school flashbacks for the WIN! 😀

The Backstreet Boys Do The “Harlem Shake” (buzzfeed.com)

Pitch madness!

March 16, 20136 Comments

Lipei
Artwork by Hazel Butler

That’s right, folks, I’ve got pitch madness! What, pray tell, is pitch madness? Why, it’s a lovely competition run by the lovely Brenda Drake and it’s happening right now! 🙂 Well, kind of. The submission window was yesterday and the task for those who chose to accept it was to submit a 35-word logline (a pitch) and the first 250 words of their completed novels. The slush zombies are currently wading through all the submissions and choosing who will advance to the next round.

Unlike during GUTGAA when I was on the edge of my seat, I was slightly more relaxed this time around because there was no entrant cap – everyone who entered during the window got in. But! That hasn’t stopped me from second-guessing every bit of my submission ever since I hit send yesterday morning.

I’ve been working over my pitch and my MS quite a bit over the course of the last six months, but that hasn’t stopped me from feeling insecure about the whole big mess, especially since I have a variety of short pitches in the works now. Do I use one of the ones I created for the #PitMad pitchfest last fall? Do I use the one I currently have up on authonomy? Do I use the one-sentence synopsis I spent a whole day trying to draft?

So it’s a Monday. . .

February 25, 201313 Comments

. . .and I needed a little cheering up because, well, you know – it’s a Monday. Luckily, I found these waiting for me when I arrived home:

Now that’s what I call comfort food.
Photo by Kay Kauffman

Don’t they look delicious? I’m trying to be good and not eat them all but, well, I have no willpower. I’ll be lucky if they’re still here come morning. 😀

I mean, really, who can resist the power of the Girl Scout cookies? They’re like $3 boxes of crack, only addictive. Well, more addictive. You know what I mean. Also, it’s late, I’m tired, I may have had one or two or ten of them by now, please to insert my usual litany of excuses here, thankyouverymuch.

And now I’m going to try to sleep off the yummy yummy cookies (that were not made with real Girl Scouts (please, dear God, tell me someone other than me gets that so that I don’t feel quite so silly)). It was a long day at work today, but an okay kind of long for once, so hopefully that’s a sign of things to come. Here’s hoping everyone else’s week is off to a great start!

11-Year-Old Booted From Girl Scout Troop After Exposing Organization’s Cookie Dumping (consumer.einnews.com)

Books I want to read this year

January 28, 2013January 8, 201425 Comments

I have an extensive list of books that I would like to read and it seems that my list grows longer every day. But since I’m keeping track of which books I’ve read through the course of the year, perhaps if I keep track of which books I’d like to read, I might stand a chance of reading a few more of those desired titles.

So, without further ado, here are some of the books I’d like to read this year:

And now, without further ado, a review!

January 23, 2013January 24, 201317 Comments

That’s right, a real, live book review! It’s been so long since I’ve reviewed a book that I feel like I’m back in high school. Okay, maybe college. Actually, that might very well be the last time I gave a proper book review like I’m fixing to give right here.

Yeah, I said “fixing to.” It happens.

Anyway, my book club met Saturday night and I was unable to make it to the meeting – again – so I decided that, since I couldn’t share my thoughts on the wonderful book we read with my book club ladies, I’d share them all with you! The book we read for January was Defending Jacob by William Landay and, while it was not a book I’d have normally read, I really enjoyed it.

The book follows Assistant District Attorney Andrew Barber as he investigates the murder of a local teenager, one of his son Jacob’s classmates. When Jacob is later arrested and charged with the crime, Andy’s life falls apart. As the investigation proceeds, he struggles to hold together his marriage and realizes how little he actually knows his son. It’s part crime novel, part lit fic, and entirely enjoyable. To find out more, just click here!

2013 Book List

January 22, 2013January 8, 201410 Comments

My book list, to be updated regularly (I hope):

Books I’m currently reading:

Stolen Child by Jennifer Sweet
How to Land (and Keep) a Literary Agent by Noah Lukeman

Books I’ve finished:

Strange times

November 20, 2012November 27, 20126 Comments

Yesterday, the courthouse groundskeeper was busy putting up fresh evergreen garland around the lampposts that dot the square. Today, he was busy mowing the lawn and it felt like spring. I know it’s Iowa and the weather will change at the drop of a hat, but dude – it’s November. Get with the program.

Just don’t swear. You can hold off on that till after New Year’s.

Six years old and crazy already

October 6, 2012October 28, 201221 Comments

I hate to make sweeping generalizations, but I think all writers are a little bit crazy in their own unique way. Tales about eccentric and reclusive writers throughout history abound. In my online writing group, the Alliance of Worldbuilders, every time someone pops their head into the forum thread to join in for the first time, we try to warn them that we’re all mad here. Sometimes, they happily throw their own unique madness into the mix right along with ours and hilarity ensues.

My own particular brand of crazy began developing at a very young age. See, there was this boy in my class. We met in preschool and it was love at first sight. Well, it was love at first sight for me, anyway. He wanted nothing to do with me. But that was only because he didn’t know me! So I followed him around the classroom like a puppy, from the blocks to the sand table to the picture books and back.

When we started kindergarten, it was more of the same. He made my little five-year-old heart flutter so! But still, every time he saw me, he would take off running. How on Earth was he supposed to get to know me if he wouldn’t stand still long enough to talk to me? If he wouldn’t get to know me, we couldn’t fall madly in love!

But then first grade arrived.

Holy shamoly!

October 2, 201213 Comments

I don’t know what I wrote, but evidently someone – or several someones – found something I said of interest because my blog traffic is through the roof today. Normally I can expect to see twenty, maybe thirty people stop by on any given day. On a really good day, the number of visitors jumps up to around fifty. It’s a small following, I know, but I truly appreciate those who stop by regularly. I think it’s better to have a handful of loyal fans than a thousand people who maybe stop in only once.

But today? Today I’ve had 303 hits. I don’t know what I wrote that was so dadgum interesting, but whatever it was, I wish someone would let me know so I could do it again! Or at the very least, I could try to do it again.

And now, back to my writing cave!

Movin’ right along!

September 24, 201226 Comments

Guess who just finished the first chapter of her newest WIP? That’s right! Given that I’ve only been writing (not plotting) for what – a week? – and the fact that I don’t have a whole lot of free time in which to write, I’m pretty proud of myself. I can’t wait to see how everything is going to turn out. 🙂