Blogathon 2010

I'm participating in....
WordCount Blogathon 2010!!


Taken from the website: "The Blogathon is an annual event that unites freelance writers from all over in a common commitment to learn more about blogging by posting to their own blogs every day during the month of May."

I'm not a freelance writer - just a blogger - but I thought this would be a good activity for me to participate in to get in the habit of blogging everyday. They may not actually want me around since I post reviews on books, or my kids, or half-naked men (but not all at the same time obviously)...and they didn't necessarily restrict me away either.   But I think I might meet them halfway in the middle.

For the month of May, each day of the week will be featured with a topic of sorts. For example, Wednesday is already Wordless Wednesday featuring a male hottie of the week...and I obviously can't give that up :)  So, my goal is to come up with other weekly features.  Here's what I have so far:

Monday: revive Media Monday (but only feature a Movie of the week)
Tuesday: participate in Table Topics Tuesday
Wednesday: Wordless Wednesday
Thursday:  Writing
Friday: Free
Saturday: Book Review or book/author related
Sunday: House Wars aka Domestic oh-no's

This of course will change because I am a woman in constant change. But for now...at least it gives me a plan to work with. And if you'd like to participate in Blogathon 2010, go here.  Ciao!

Table Topics Tuesday (2)

Today's question: If you were to get a tattoo right now, what would it be?

To tell you the truth, I'm not real keen on tattoos. The closest I ever came to getting one was on Spring Break for my 21st birthday. As soon as they told me I wouldn't be able to get in the ocean the rest of the week, I quickly forgot the idea. Now, ten years later, I'm sure I would hate to have the Japanese symbol I picked out that afternoon still stuck on my body. Life changes so fast for me and my tastes and desires change with it - I'd never been happy with a symbol or picture or wording permanently etched into my skin. So...I guess if I HAD to choose a tattoo, it would be freckle, like Phoebe did in that one Friends episode, but if I truly had the choice, I probably wouldn't get one at all.

Anthology: Vacations From Hell

5 short stories by: Libba Bray, Claudia Gray, Sarah Mlynowski, Maureen Johnson, & Cassandra Clare
Published May 26, 2009 by HarperCollins
Paperback: 288 pages

The back of the book doesn't really give you an idea of the stories inside, so here's what you'll find - stories are ordered in description from my favorite to my least favorite.

Nowhere is Safe by Libba Bray
Four friends, freshly graduated from high school, are backpacking through Europe and stumble upon an old town in the guidebook - a cursed town in fact. And of course they go. The town is protected by a line of salt to keep the demons away. I don't want to give away too many details...but I can tell you this...this story is the reason to pick this anthology up at your store/library/online retailer. I LOVED IT! Great intensity and it ended too quickly.

The Mirror House by Cassandra Clare
Cassie brings us a kissing brother and sister and an evil father once again. I'm starting to wander if these are childhood influences are just her favorite forbidden topics. In this story, a newly married mom and dad with (hiding it from parents) kissing step brother and step sister starts off their reign with a joint honeymoon beach location. The beach is deserted in this area - private local and all. New (hiding and kissing) brother and sister sneak away on the beach, make out, and then brother spots a beautiful local, who lures him in (sister gets jealous of course) - only she's really immortal and evil and hates all men. It's all very typical in plot sense, but I liked the development that was made in Clare's version.

Cruisin' by Sarah Mlynowski
Friends Liz and Kristin are going on a cruise. Liz is the "experienced" gal and has make it Kristin's mission to lose her virginity on the cruise. She has three days to find the perfect guy. Oh and there's gossip about a vampire on the loose.  As the cruise comes to a close, Kristin gets closer to the deed, but can she follow through? An interesting take (that includes vampires) and it'll throw you for a loop.

I don't like your Girlfriend by Claudia Gray
This is a four part story about Cecily. In her world, the women are witches and it is forbidden for the men to know. She hates this girl, Kathleen, whom she has to see every summer when her Mom's college coven meets up for "summer vacation". This year she is even more irate to see that Kathleen has brought a boyfriend, who Cecily thinks is perfect for herself. Cecily begins to test her witch developing ways and this story is a decent attempt to show the difference between wants, desires, obligations and the maturity to sift through the differences of each.

The Law of Suspects by Maureen Johnson
This story involved two sisters on vacation in a BFE section of France, a story that is a curse to hear, and keeping hold of yourself under all the suspicion. I didn't love this one. Call me crazy, but making out descriptions after a murder just took place (while they're still in the same room as the bloody body and/or standing right beside it) is just way too weird, even for me.

Overall - its a 4 out of 5 stars for the entire collection.  Great job, ladies.

Earth Day 2010

Today is Earth Day 2010.
It's a day to recognize the personal commitments we can make to sustain our Earth and create a positive global change.

Are you living green?  Take this quiz.

Here are my renewed commitments:

1. Take cloth bags to the grocery.
2. Order new recycle bin [someone stole mine months ago (who would do that? they're free after all...)]
3. Recycle in said bin
4. Purchase food items in less packaging and start purchasing more fresh items to cook from scratch
5. Use my steamer cleaner to clean my bathrooms instead the chemical products I keep buying

What commitment are you going to make this year in honor of Earth Day?  Here's a great website where you can get some ideas as well as some craft ideas for the kids! And remember...Earth Day is Everyday!

Table Topics Tuesday

"Welcome to the Nut House" hosts Table Topics Tuesday. Be sure to check out Shannon's blog - she's funny and is into men with British accents and who doesn't love them?!?

Today's topic:

If you could win an unlimited shopping from one store, which one would it be?

This is an easy one: TARGET!

The home decorating section is evil; it's all so stylish and cute and screams, "You must have me!" and well...if I have an unlimited spree, then I'd be allowed to go crazy. They also have books, movies, music, cute clothes, shoes, and even cute pet toys and supplies (and a toy section for my kids).

Tar'jette is a woman's dream. I visit it once a year - I know better than to torture myself. *shrugs* I could have picked a jewelry store or shop in Beverly Hills - but truth is, I'm not flashy or need really nice things - I just like smart, chic purchases - and Target can do that!

Go join the discussion here.

The Sea

Another poem from my cousin. I love it - very much musical lyric-like.

The Sea by Sawyer Schmitt

If it’s worth the sideways glance
And the silent fight
You never even gave me a chance
Is there an end in sight?

If it’s worth the hollow grave
The twisted lies
I do my best to save
Forsaken sighs

You’ve cast me out to sea
With the saints and the martyrs
Floating peacefully
Among the hellfire’s waters
And they’re telling me
To burn my own altars

Oh but you’ve overlooked me once again
In the drops of the salty sea
Ghosts of saints and martyrs live within
So hard for the eyes to see

And I’m so sick and tired of being sick and tired
I fought for your respect and ended up only admired
It’s breaking everything that I ever knew
What did I ever do to you?

If it’s worth the one word reply
The endless line
You never saw my eyes in the sky
Tired of fine

You’ve cast me out to sea
With the saints and the martyrs
Drifting hopelessly
Further out into the endless waters
And they’re whispering to me softly
Still unsure who falters

Why do you fall so reluctantly?
Don’t you know you can trust me?
What’s it going to take for you to see
That I’m still adrift in this unforgiving sea?

It’s all these things you do to me
And it’s driving me crazy
But I don’t care, you amaze me
Throw me a lifeline in this red sea

You tell me that it’s no fairytale
So I’ll skim the sunshine and sail
Leave a shattered trail
Alone is no way to sail

I belong with you, a lovely commotion
Not buried in the harsh ocean
And you belong with me
Not swallowed in the sea

I know you love to love me too
And there’s only one thing for me to do
I just can’t go without asking you

If you’re tired of walking the empty streets
Follow me and help me hang the bed sheets
And together we can sail away
And defy the mortal’s day

Sail away with me
Across time and space
Sail away with me
Across this lovely sea
Sail away with me
To another place
Just sail away with me

Just sail away with me.

Hourglass (Evernight Series #3)

Hourglass is the third book in the Evernight Series.  Fair warning...My opinion will contain spoilers if you haven't read the first two!

Author: Claudia Gray
Published: March 9, 2010 by HarperCollins Publishers
Hardcover: 339 pages

Synopsis:
Bianca will risk everything to be with Lucas. After escaping from Evernight Academy, the vampire boarding school where they met, Bianca and Lucas take refuge with Black Cross, a fanatical group of vampire hunters. Bianca must hide her supernatural heritage or risk certain death at their hands. But when Black Cross captures her friend—the vampire Balthazar—hiding is no longer an option. Soon, Bianca and Lucas are on the run again, pursued not only by Black Cross, but by the powerful leaders of Evernight. Yet no matter how far they travel, Bianca can't escape her destiny. Bianca has always believed their love could survive anything . . . but can it survive what's to come?

My Opinion:
This will be as non-technical of an opinion as ever.  Even 5 days after sitting on my thoughts about this book, I'm still not sure how to put my thoughts into words. I love the vampires of Evernight. I love the concept of a vampire school to keep them abreast of technology and ways of society. That said, I have to say that I missed those vampires of Evernight. They just were not present in this book, except two characters and while they were two I loved, I missed the others. I missed the school setting, but even with that element gone, this book stepped up the bar and fulfilled it in a Whole other area: the Bianca and Lucas factor.

Bianca and Lucas's relationship is put to the ultimate test in this book. The Black Cross kept them on their toes. Then trying to make it on their own was a challenge. (By the way, a third of me is still rooting for Bathazar.) I have to say, that while I like the B&L development in the story, I got a little bored of it and frankly, I despise the last 70 pages of the book. The writing is superb, I just didn't want that to happen to these wonderful characters! And it baffles me on where Gray is taking them next!

Overall, the first half of the story is edge of your seat action-packed.  Then it slows down and becomes a bit June Cleaver in its settling down in a new home kind of way and then the last bit was like a rerun of the beginning of Book 5 of the Vampire Diaries or Shadowland of the Evermore Series   AFTERLIFE (Evernight #4) won't be published until December. I think I might go crazy waiting. And despite what impression you may get reading this - I did like the book!  I'm just still mad by the ending...which is something to say  :)  4 stars

HERE'S A BIT ABOUT THE FIRST TWO BOOKS IN THE EVERNIGHT SERIES

Evernight:  Bianca wants to escape. She's been uprooted from her small hometown and enrolled at Evernight Academy, an eerie Gothic boarding school where the students are somehow too perfect: smart, sleek, and almost predatory. Bianca knows she doesn't fit in. Then she meets Lucas. He's not the "Evernight type" either, and he likes it that way. Lucas ignores the rules, stands up to the snobs, and warns Bianca to be careful—even when it comes to caring about him."I couldn't stand it if they took it out on you," he tells Bianca, "and eventually they would."But the connection between Bianca and Lucas can't be denied. Bianca will risk anything to be with Lucas, but dark secrets are fated to tear them apart . . . and to make Bianca question everything she's ever believed.

Stargazer: The vampire in me was closer to the surface . . .Evernight Academy: an exclusive boarding school for the most beautiful, dangerous students of all—vampires. Bianca, born to two vampires, has always been told her destiny is to become one of them. But Bianca fell in love with Lucas—a vampire hunter sworn to destroy her kind. They were torn apart when his true identity was revealed, forcing him to flee the school. Although they may be separated, Bianca and Lucas will not give each other up. She will risk anything for the chance to see him again, even if it means coming face-to-face with the vampire hunters of Black Cross—or deceiving the powerful vampires of Evernight. Bianca's secrets will force her to live a life of lies. Yet Bianca isn't the only one keeping secrets. When Evernight is attacked by an evil force that seems to target her, she discovers the truth she thought she knew is only the beginning. . . .

How do you become a Vampire?

Found this on my hard drive and realized I never posted it to my blog.  Fun stuff!

Predicament

Writing is new to me. Creating stories are not. I usually kept these fanatical story ideas internal and developed them start to finish within my brain.  I never wrote them down, only creating the movie in my head.   Now that I'm giving it a go with the writing of such stories on paper, I come into problems I wouldn't normally deal with in an internal (or verbal) process of story creation.

In March, I had to face and fight my demon of compulsive editing.  I also dealt with a major change with a main character to make the story flow better.  I even contemplated changing my story to a 3rd POV and realized it probably wasn't the best idea after all.  Now in Chapter 12 and more than halfway through my story, a light bulb not only clicked - it blinded me to see where I've been screwing up; why my story has been giving me fits that I didn't want to face, even as I was writing it.

I screwed up...and not just with a character.  I screwed up the plot background.  It makes a difference to the background of all the characters as well as explaining what brings the story to its present moment.  In order to fix it, I will have to alter several things in the beginning, give a side character an entire presence where none existed and change the entire middle of the story that I wrote in the last 6 weeks. It will partially affect the ending third that I'm about to write - but only in the dialogue (I think).  And in order for this story to work, I have to make this change.

So here's the question:  What do writers do when they find that the story they are writing (or mostly finished with) is completely wrong?  Do they stop what they are doing and go back and fix it or do they forge ahead with the intention of fixing it in the editing process?  Or do they start over completely - a complete re-write?
I've been seeking answers via other writer's blogs and writing websites but I'm just not finding that key answer out there.  Maybe there isn't one?  Maybe the only answer is your personal need or desire?

So, this is where I'm at on a Saturday afternoon/evening with a cloudless sky and a cool 69 degrees looming at my back: confusion in a place where clarity has finally ascended me.  I don't know the ultimate right answer - but for me, I will have to go back, here and now.   And I need to start from scratch. I need to get the old idea out of my head and re-create the story.  Will I re-write every one of the 57,000+ words that I already wrote?  No.  I plan to start with a blank document and copy and paste chapter by chapter and alter the plot and add the needed elements as I go.

So, for April I most probably will not meet my word goal for the month as far as an addition to the total is concerned - however I do plan to get my story back on track. There are 20 more days in April - 20 days to give my story that tight edge that will allow it to flow. 20 days to give Julianna's story the rightness it deserves.

20 days. Hopefully then I won't feel like such a hack at this.

Heels = Torture Devices

2010 Resolution #1: "I will purchase my first pair of high heel pumps since getting pregnant with Caleb 9 years ago and I will learn to walk in them. I will wear them to a club by March."

So...It's April, BUT I finally bought my first pair of cute heels!!  Not a huge height, but respectable for a heel newbie.  Here's a picture:

 

I wore them to work yesterday. And I wore them (some). And yes, they did make my legs look longer and stronger (and dare I say it?...sexier??).

They also caused unbelievable amounts of pain from swishing my big ass foot into the small crevice of a space!  Standing higher from the heel doesn't bother me (I wore heeled boots all winter); its the toe part that hurts. What man invented these torture devices that women now pressure each other to wear because it "looks good"?  

But nevertheless...I will continue on my path of self-torture and try my best to wear them. Le sigh. Grown up shoes suck.

Inspiration in unexpected places

This is a poem my cousin wrote yesterday. He writes/posts several a day on facebook and this one gave me some inspiration this morning. At the beginning of Chapter 13, I need to write a memory scene and I was stuck on how I wanted to accomplish it (only knowing what I wanted told/explained). Then I read this, and BAM! it popped into my head! Inspiration is everywhere people!

Red Galoshes by Sawyer Schmitt

Slipping on my red galoshes, mother smiles as she watches

Drop by drop collective rain races down my window pane

Millions of tiny worlds are falling, diminutive voices calling

I hear them and clasp my hands, pulling worlds off lush grass strands

As my boots carry on, sprinting across my swamped lawn

The world spins wildly forever
Supposedly on a purposeful tilt
And as it spins, changing weather
All my delicate flowers wilt

A desert overtakes land surrounding; at my door is steady pounding
As red boots come tumbling in the house is surrounded by angry men
As their curses and lances fall, rain returns and vanquishes them all
Innocent eyes stare at me although I’m not sure what they see
A monster in my red galoshes, mother frowns as she watches
The world spins crazily forever
Yet we all stay on the ground
I swore that I would never
Stay here if hate would surround

The moon and stars, shadow and reflection add their tears to my collection
And even though it causes ache, I shall remain and never break
Not sure what’s in store, wondering of times before
Letting universes fall, ignoring every desperate call
The world spins madly forever
With all these sickly people in it
And all of the wise and clever
Cower in a world unfit

Minus a puppy

It's Day One without Puppy Jace.

And the first day of a wonderful existence.

Don't get me wrong. I loved Puppy Jace; I just didn't love his compulsion with chewing on every single thing in my house (and outside my house).  Jace came into our life in August of last year.  Since then I have:

1. repaired every corner in my hallway, one in my kitchen, and one in my bedroom from where he chewed the baseboards and drywall (some places, I repaired 4 times)
2. Picked up 272 pieces of tootsie roll poop
3. Sucked up 89 circles of puppy pee
4. Been woken up at 4am every morning to go out and then woke up again at 5:30am by compulsive licking when the alarm goes off
5. found my kids with little snips of biting and scratches
6. thrown away every puzzle because of chewed up pieces
7. thrown away 3 boxes of crayons, pencils and pens because of chewed up ends
8. thrown away countless toys because of...see if you can guess...yep, you're right...CHEWING!
9. found that the posts of my deck have been chewed and gnawed on
10. woken up to toilet paper tore all over the house because the little bugger dug it out the trash can.
11. found poop on the deck because he brought to me as a present.  No, I'm not lying.
12. AND finally come to the conclusion that he will not learn better, at least in my ownership.

This is just some of what has led to my decision to say goodbye to Jace.  My kids don't even miss him, so I have a feeling that he'll be gone for a very very very very long time.  I love the dog, but it's just not worth it.  Guess I'm back to the single dog lifestyle. Our Abby girl is the best!

Random Reading Activity Challenge

Like Reading/Blog Challenges? I do! It gives me something new and fresh to blog about instead of just current thoughts, book reviews, or pictures of my kids. And Karin who has brought you the Winter Break and Holiday Break reading challenges is back at it with the (cue drum roll please)

Random Reading Activity Challenge!

RANDOMLY, she'll post an activity challenge. You'll have a SPECIFIC amount of time to complete the activity. You'll post something on your blog with your completed activity challenge and come back to this site and link your blog post to MR. LINKY. After the time period to complete the activity is up, she'll RANDOMLY choose a winner from the people on Mr. Linky, then post the winner and ask them to email me with their mailing address. It's that simple!

I won Impossible by Nancy Werlin in her Winter Break Reading Challenge :)

YOU'LL WANT TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE BLOG BY EMAIL OR RSS IN ORDER TO RECEIVE NOTIFICATION OF THE RANDOM ACTIVITY CHALLENGES.

Go here to start! The first challenge is for a signed ARC! Signed, people! go now....it ends tomorrow, 4.4.10!

It's Egg-Tastic!

Thoughtful Thursday

When does a little yoga become a little too much yoga?