It's Friday. Finally.

I have been anticipating this weekend for a while now.

Why?

Well...besides dinner out for the husband's birthday (Happy Birthday Husband!), breakfast with my little brother, and finding out whether I'm having a niece or nephew next winter, I have no plans!!!

So I will be writing. And writing. And writing.

And for little ol' introverted me, I couldn't be happier.

That's all I've got. Happy Writing!

My Fantasy Team: YA Style

So it's Football Season. And in Minnesota, where the Vikings are struggling to manage a win, the next best thing for the disillusioned fan is a Fantasy Football team.

But yeah, I don't have one of those either (probably because when I did in the past I never remembered the thing and sucked miserably).

So while everybody around me is managing their "teams", I thought I'd create one of my own. YA Style.

So who would be on my team? Well...

#1 Team Ky (Matched, Allie Condie)
While Xander seemed like a fun, sweet guy, he was the 'safe' choice for Cassia. Ky represented freedom, adventure, and a world outside the confines of the Society. I believe the best love triangles in fictions are more about the protagonist than the 2 love interests involved, and Matched does this well. I am eagerly anticipating Crossed to see where Ky and Cassia's what the future holds for them.

#2 Team Peeta (The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins)
The love triangle in this series is easily one of the most unpredictable out there. I could definitely see it going either way. I, however, found myself leaning towards the baker's son. Gale felt too "brotherly" to me.

#3 Team Damon (Vampire Diaries, The CW)
If given the choice between the high and moral guy who goes to the dark side or the bad boy with a soft side, I would choose the bad boy every time.

#4 Team Pacey (Dawson's Creek, The WB)
Similar to #3, we have the perfect guy and the flawed one. Give me the imperfection.

#5 Team Jacob (Twilight Series, Stephenie Meyer)
And it has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with ABS. As I said in #1, I like love triangles that are about the protagonist. In the Twilight Series, I felt that Edward represented a cold and stagnant future for Bella. A life of repeating the same years over and over, of never aging while those around you did, of never being able to fully live. Jacob was the opposite of this. He represented warmth, growth, and everything life should be about.

"...But I would have been healthier for you. Not a drug; I would have been the air, the sun." -Jacob Black

So there you have it. That's my fantasy YA team. What's yours?

Query: The Flight of the Imago (Second Campaigner Challenge)

So the rules for the Second Campaigner Challenge are:

Write a blog post in 200 words or less, excluding the title. It can be in any format, whether flash fiction, non-fiction, humorous blog musings, poem, etc. The blog post should:

• include the word "imago" in the title
• include the following 4 random words: "miasma," "lacuna," "oscitate," "synchronicity,"

If you want to give yourself an added challenge (optional and included in the word count), make reference to a mirror in your post.

For those who want an even greater challenge (optional), make your post 200 words EXACTLY!

So, um yeah. I had to look up EVERY ONE of those words, and I'm definitely sure I used more than one of them wrong.

I decided to go with the etc. and try my entry in the form of a pompous query letter...so here it goes:

Dear Fortuitous Agent,

Have you been feeling the miasma in the publishing industry lately? Well that is all about to change. The moment you devour my latest masterpiece, The Flight of the Imago, you will guffaw, delight, oscitate, regale, and sing my praises as you devour every brilliant, articulate delectable word.

You will be amazed at the perfect synchronicity of both theme and plot. This book will make you billions of dollars and skyrocket you to the position of the most envied and respected agent in the world. When you look in the mirror, you will weep with pride and admiration for being the prosperous agent to represent this profound novel that will change history.

I have taken the liberty to save you the time of a phone call demanding the privilege to be the fifteenth agent to read my manuscript and have attached the 800,000 word document to this e-mail. I trust my future editor can handle the multiple spelling and grammar issues you may find. Also please overlook the lacuna between the beginning and the end. My ultimate impending greatness dictates a middle to my fictional novel is unnecessary.

Call soon. This offer will not last.

Sincerely,

Soon-to-be-best-selling-rich-famous-greater-than-Dan-Brown-Author

If you liked it, please stop by here and vote for #94. Thanks!

Dating My WIP

Our eyes met. His sparkled bright and drew me in. I was intrigued. As he crossed the crowded room towards me, my heart pitter-pattered and the questions began to form. He was a puzzle, a mystery, an enigma. I wanted...I needed to know everything about him.

"Dinner?" he asked, and I nodded as I licked my dry lips. The anticipation had stolen my voice. He took my hand and led me to a table for two where we washed down forgettable food with tasteless wine.

Our conversation was slow, awkward at first. But with each question he answered more grew, spreading like wildfire. Before the evening ended, we had planned a second date. And from that night came more dinners followed by late night talks. Our conversations grew longer, our affection for each other grew until I could no longer hold it in.

A feverish passion flew through my fingers and across my keyboard. Each word brought us closer. I thought of him every waking hour and dreamt of him every night. When we couldn't be together, I lived in a fog, walking through the mundane tasks of my life while thinking of only him. I anticipated our moments together, forgoing food and sleep. I longed to be with him. I needed to be with him. He was all I wanted.

I thought, This is it. He could be the one. The one I've always dreamt of, planned for. The one who will take me places I've never even imagined. And our relationship grew, marked by a rapidly growing word count.

And then came the snag.

Something came along and distracted me. Suddenly he wasn't so exciting anymore. I stopped thinking about him as much. I stopped wondering about him. Stopped dreaming about him. Stopped caring. Suddenly I'd rather play Facebook games than spend time with him. Our relationship grew stale and cold. The word count stopped.

And then one day a song came on the radio that reminded me of him. Suddenly I couldn't stop thinking about him again. I wanted to...I needed to be with him. The word count began to rise, slowly at first but increasing at a steady pace.

Just when I thought we're back on track, that he IS the one, a light switch flipped. I began to notice things...the pimples on his chin, his large nose, his crooked teeth. His jokes weren't so funny anymore. He chewed with his mouth open, he never opened the door for me, and all he wanted to talk about is himself.

What did I see in him? Why did I think he was so great?

I began to notice others, with eyes that sparkled much brighter than his. I am drawn to them. I longed for the the mystery once more. But deep in the night a voice whispers to me. Press on. See this through. Don't give up.

So I put away all thoughts of the other sparkling eyes, and continued to date only him. It wasn't easy. Some nights we had dinners where we barely spoke and refused to look at each other. Some nights, I stood him up so I could curl up with my Kindle and bemoan the fact that our relationship will never be as good as Veronica Roth's Divergent.

Sometimes we did talk, slow and stilted. And then there are the nights, the great nights, where we talked all night long, rediscovering each other. The passion and the heat flowed again, sometimes lasting for days.

One day, I stopped and looked back for a moment. I saw the ups, the downs, the adversity we'd overcome. A surge of passion swept through me, driving me forward. The finish line was in sight. Once again, he consumed me, not with the exciting flame of a sparkler like in the beginning, but the more steady burn of a candle prepared to carry on through the last drop of wax.

And then came the dinner where he pulled out the tiny velvet black box. My heart fluttered as he dropped to one knee before me. I typed those final words and pressed print on my first draft as he slipped the gold band onto my finger.

I held up my hand, beaming with excitement and pride before spreading my joyous news to everyone I know. Then I danced around the room several times, nearly falling. As I pressed my hand to the table to catch myself, I felt the warmth of my freshly printed pages. I noticed the contrast of the gold ring to the crisp white...

And I knew that now the real work began.

But that is another post.

Happy Writing!

Apology and Award

So this past week I've been a bad writer, blogger, campaigner, critique partner, beta reader, friend, wife, mother, magic bean buyer...you name it.

Before I get any further I'll get my excuses out of the way...

1. My partner in crime at the day job is on vacation. So I had my job, and her job, and a few extra people I trained in this past week. Add a long commute into the office (I usually work from home) and it was buuuusssssyyyyyy.

2. My youngest daughter's school decided to throw in an extra teacher just a mere 5 days into the school year. This meant a class change, lots of tears, lots of worries, and extra time and attention to ensure she wasn't scarred for life.

3. I have not been feeling up to my usual energetic Tigger-riffic self. A few years ago I was diagnosed with this crappy super-sucky disease that makes you hurt all over known as Fibromyalgia. And while for the most part I can keep the pain at bay with diet, exercise, advil, and wine, I find I am not immune to the weather. And here in Minnesota, where we've gone from a humid 90 degrees to a brisk 30 with lots of sunshine, a little rain, and the occasional snowflake (okay well maybe not snow...yet) my body has responded with an achy protest that leaves me wanting to bury myself under the covers and not come out until October.

So yeah, it's been a bad blogging week.

And I'm sorry.

And now on to more exciting things... While catching up on my blog reading, I discovered that Jenn over at A Single Bell awarded me The Versatile Blogger award (which is super sweet of her considering how un-versatile my blog has been this past week!)


Anywho...the rules are:
1. Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them in your post.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Pass this Award along to 15 recently discovered blogs and let them know about it.

So up first thank you Jenn! I've never received a blog award before! :) So please, all my followers, go follow this wonderful brilliant generous fellow writer at A Single Bell.

As for step #2, since I already shared 10 thing about myself, I thought I'd steal from Jenn by sharing 7 things about my writing and WIPs instead. So here it goes...

1. The first book I ever remember writing (circa age 7) was about a calico kitty named Priscilla who ran away from home.
2. The first novel I wrote as an adult was a category romance. I 'thought' that was what I wanted to write, but since the day I thought I'd give YA a try, I haven't looked back.
3. I write first drafts on the couch or in bed with the TV on, music playing, and kids screaming. I re-write and edit at my desk in a quiet room with the door shut.
4. My current 20000 first draft WIP is a YA dystopian/sci-fi combo with romance, time travel, and a lot of misspelled words.
5. The name of my current protagonist in my WIP has changed 3x already. She has been Katie, Hannah, and Summer. And her name will most likely change again. I'm starting to confuse myself...I may just start calling her Girl until I can settle on something.
6. My next WIP I would like to write is a middle grade that involves 2 sisters, a frog, and a window.
7. I once was a legal secretary. You would think that would help me. Um, nope. Me and commas...not on good terms.

And on to #3... I'm about to be a HUGE rule breaker (maybe I should call this post Apology...Awards...Apology), but choosing among so many awesome blogs is impossible.

So without further ado, I bequeath this award....

• To my fellow writer, tea enthusiast and friend Sarah over at Latte Tea Dah.
• To three brilliant writers whose work I enjoy...Amber at amberafterglow, Nicole at Ink and Prose, and Jenn at Jennifer Baker-Henry.
  
• To fellow writer mom Jessica at Just Following A Dream.
• To Rain at Rainstorms & Rainbows who is friendly, funny, and happens to share my birthday.
• To Doctor Faerie Godmother for her sarcastic-laugh-out-loud writing style.
• To ALL of the bloggers in my writing campaign groups. The YA writers of Group 13, the Sci-Fi Writers of Group 28, and my fellow Blogger Beginners in Group 50.
  

Okay so I know that's way more than 15. I also know many of you already have won this award. But if you haven't, I would love the honor to pass it on. Thank you all for your wonderful posts. They've informed me, inspired me, moved me to tears, or gave me a laugh (and I love to laugh). I enjoy blog reading (apparently more than blog writing).

Happy Writing!

Today

This past summer we had the opportunity to visit both the Pentagon Memorial and the field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania where Flight 93 went down.

And the questions came.

Some from my 13-year-old who had been too young to remember that dark day.

Most from my 6-year-old who was only beginning to learn about the events that changed the world so drastically just a mere 3 1/2 years before she was born..

At the Pentagon we sat side by side on the wall looking out over the benches, one for each victim, arranged by their age.

"Mommy," she said. "I'm sad about those people who died."
"Me too," I said.

In Pennsylvania, we stood hand in hand looking over the fence.


"Mommy," she said. "I'm glad those people stopped the bad men."
"Me too," I said.




"Mommy, I hope nobody forgets those people," she said as we walked away.
"No," I said, "Neither do I."

Hello Kitty and High Heels

So I know most blogs do five things on a Friday, but I don't have five things today. That and since I like to be different, I'm only doing 4. Besides by the time I get this posted it will be nearly Saturday.

So here are almost five things on an almost Saturday...

1. On the writing front, I'm about 13,000 words into the first draft of my new project....kind of in that sweet spot between the beginning hump and the wall aka the middle. I'm liking it here - the ideas and the words are rolling off my fingers relatively easy and with little blood.

2. Of course now that the writing is moving along smoothly, everything in my non-writing life is conspiring against me. Like a busy weekend ahead with a wedding to go to and dinner for my brother's birthday (which I'm hosting). And next week I am working in the office (I usually get to work at home) which means a long commute (nearly 2 hrs round trip). Most of the evenings will be eaten up with kids activities. So I'm crossing my fingers I can hold on to this momentum..even if it means just a mere 100 words before giving into the exhaustion each night.

3. In complete random news, I am wearing high heels to the wedding. I don't do high heels (well not well anyways). Yes klutzy me, made it to middle age without ever mastering the art of walking around with my heels off the ground. My husband thinks it's funny and wants to get me a bike helmet and knee pads. I'm just hoping I get through the day without broken bones.

4. Finally, if you're a writer in desperate need of confidence (like me), check out the Insecure Writer's Support Group over at Alex J Cavanaugh's blog. The best part - realizing I'm not alone - there are a whole lot of others out there who get the 'doubts' too. I'm planning on joining in next month.

So...

When life gets in the way when you're on a great writing streak, how do you keep it going?

Oh yeah and does anyone out there have some great tips for wearing heels?

Writer's Platform-Building Campaign: Challenge #1

So as part of Rachael Harrie's Writer's Campaign, we were given this challenge:

Write a short story/flash fiction story in 200 words or less, excluding the title. It can be in any format, including a poem. Begin the story with the words, “The door swung open” These four words will be included in the word count.

If you want to give yourself an added challenge (optional), use the same beginning words and end with the words: "the door swung shut." (also included in the word count)

For those who want an even greater challenge, make your story 200 words EXACTLY!

Well I read some brilliant, creative, amazingly awesome stories by fellow campaigners today, and I know my story is nowhere near as delightful (I did have a little trouble getting my door to swing open). But hey, I did make exactly 200 words, and I had fun!

The Path

The door swung open. Stones embedded into the ground formed a path that stretched out in front of me. Gliding across grassy hills like a speckled ribbon it disappeared into the blackness of a thick forest. I glimpsed the path again beyond the trees as it wound it’s way up a mountain to a peak obscured by misty clouds.

My eyes fell back to the stones just beyond the threshold of the door. I lifted my foot prepared to move forward, when a sound froze the muscles in my legs. Thunder rumbled in the distance and I raised my eyes to the sky watching black clouds gather on the horizon, piercing bolts of lightning striking the ground.

I lifted my foot again, ready for that step, when a gust of wind tore across the path, filling my ears with a mind-numbing roar and whipping my hair across my face. I dropped my foot and glanced back longingly into the room behind me. My eyes fell on the warmth of the fire and the softness of the couch.

Breathing deeply, I faced the path with a racing heart and sweaty palms.

I lifted my foot… and the door swung shut.

10 Random things...

Well I'm barely into the Writer's Campaign and all I can think is wow! I am overwhelmed with the sheer awesomeness of creative, funny, and inspirational blogs out there. I'm having a blast meeting everybody.

I'm also loving Google Reader. Very very much.

So there's the fun little blogger game going around where you post 10 random facts about yourself. It's a fun way for the Campaigners to get to know each other. If you want to play too, post a link to your blog in the comments.

1. I was nearly born on a Friday the 13th.

2. I once was legally blind (2 corneal transplants changed that).

3. I'm extremely shy (until I get to know you and then I have trouble shutting up).

4. I'm not a big fan of ketchup, mustard, tomatoes, or cheese--yes I eat boring hamburgers.

5. Despite having a former airplane mechanic for a father, I am afraid to fly. Yeah, I'll do it when I have to, but it usually requires a Xanax or a trip to the bar before takeoff.

6. I've always wanted to go to Iceland. (I will need lots of Xanax for that flight).

7. The only other dream job I've ever wanted (besides writer) is to be a Meteorologist.

8. I hate making phone calls. If I have to make a doctor's appointment, I'd rather to drive down the road and make it in person (I really don't do this, but I've given it some serious consideration before - yeah I'm a freak sometimes!).

9. I met my husband online in 1995..long before it was cool. We met on something called Prodigy (think caveman version of Facebook).

10. Not a big sports fan - except for baseball. Baseball is slow, easy for me to follow...unlike hockey which gives me heart palpitations.