Purple Prose

The Secret Baby, the Runaway Bride and the Romance Novelist that Loves Them

2009-04-20T16:26:00.000-04:00

cross posted on www.themodernmythmakers.com

So, I got involved in a book this morning and forgot the time of day. This is not all that unusual. I love books and I often get involved in them and forget to pay attention to what is around me. What disturbs me the most is that it wasn’t even that good of a book. It just had a plot that gets me every time. Every. Single. Time.

It was a Secret Baby book. Yes, you heard me. A Secret Baby Book. I love Secret Baby books and I’m not alone. There are thousands of us. Maybe even millions of us Secret Baby lovers out there. I should be ashamed. I know this, but I’m not. The Secret Baby works.

What is the Secret Baby plot? Here’s the plot in a nutshell. Woman and man have an affair/short term marriage. Woman gets pregnant. Woman or man leaves. Woman does not tell man that she is pregnant and has the baby alone. Some indeterminate time later, man finds out woman has had his child. Chaos ensues. There are variations on this plot (usually involving siblings of the Secret Baby parents), but in general that is how it always starts.

This seems formulaic. It seems contrived, but romance readers (like me) are instantly drawn into the story. The Secret Baby involves a child. It’s a cheap trick but almost everyone loves a baby or a cute kid and almost everyone would agree that a child changes your life instantly. (Finding out that you are the parent of a rebellious adolescent can also be a big life change.) A character that in the past has only worried about themselves is now forced to consider another person – a person that is almost completely dependent on them. The Secret Baby provides an impetus for a character to change. As an added bonus, when the hero and heroine of the book are the Secret Baby’s biological parents, there is the past relationship that didn’t work to add intensity to the story.. The hero and heroine must overcome their shared past before finding their happily ever after. The Secret Baby is one way to add tension to the story and keep the pages of a book turning.

There are several “formulaic” (I hate that word.) plot devices. The Secret Baby. The Runaway Bride. The Reunion. The Takeover. The Vengeful Hero. The list goes on. Most have existed in one form or the other since people began telling stories and they continue to exist because they work. They are part of the tool kit that a romance writer can mix and match to craft his or her story. It is up to the writer to use them in an original and unique way.

What if the Glass Slipper doesn’t fit?

2009-02-03T23:55:00.001-05:00

"Wait, Wait." The young servant girl runs down the stairs calling for the grand duke. "I'm here. I want a turn. Let me try on the slipper please."

The duke turns from the door and looks her up and down as reaches the bottom of the stairs. "You'll do." He says and he reaches in his pocket for the slipper. The girl sits and extends an unshod foot. The duke pulls out the slipper and tries to wedge it onto her foot. It doesn't quite fit…..

This is what happened to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday. They were the Cinderella story. They were the underdog. They were the team that was absolutely not supposed to reach the biggest sporting event of the year, The Super Bowl. While they put up a valiant effort and made a remarkable fourth quarter come back, the still lost. And losing sucks….

Believe me, I know.

Saying that I'm a competitive girl is like saying the Mona Lisa is a masterpiece. It is something that goes without saying. I absolutely, positively loathe losing. I'm not exactly a bad loser. I don't spend my time crying or pitching a temper tantrum instead….I seethe. That's right, I churn, boil, foam, bubble with regret and recriminations. That is what I'm doing now.

If I'm going to lose, I like to know why I lose. What did I do to cause myself to lose? Was it the other team was better than me? The athlete and gamesman in me say that if I know why I lost, I can do better next time. That athlete and that gamesman are going crazy now that I'm in the Friend Zone. I must know what caused this state of affairs…and guess what I'm never going to find out so now I must do the hardest thing that one can do in sports after a bad game.

I must put it out of my mind. That's right. Put it out of my mind and move on to the next game.

Yuck.

Who wants to do that?

Kurt Warner doesn't want to do that. Larry Fitzgerald doesn't want to do that. Anquan Boldin doesn't want to do that. I imagine that none of the rest of the Arizona team wants to do that either. They lost the Super Bowl. They lost the biggest game of the year. They lost the biggest game in that poor, poor franchise's tangled and tumbled history. Yet, as athletes, they know the only game that matters is the next game….even if the next game is in eight months.

So, I think that it is up to me to follow that example. I'll spend the next few months training and slimming down and trying to make myself into a pre-season favorite and the next time that the cannon goes off and the ball is kicked into the air, I'll be ready to go.

Getting Upset

2009-01-27T23:57:00.002-05:00

Once upon a time in a land far, far away, there lived a spoiled young prince who liked to play with a golden ball. One day, the prince was playing with the ball when it dropped into a well …..Hmmm ….Something is wrong about this story.

Blog readers, I have bad news. I think it is safe to say that my game is over and I've been officially relegated to the friend zone. I don't really like being here, but I suppose that I'll get over it….eventually. I'm a little annoyed that the boy person decided to run out the clock because I was hoping to pull an upset, but I think that all hope is lost even on that front.

Football and sports novices may assume that an upset is something that gets turned over or what happens when a man does something to annoy a woman. (Something that occurs pretty often enough from what I've observed.) But no….an upset is different than that. An upset is when a team that isn't expected to win, wins.

An upset is Lyle Lovett marrying Julia Roberts. An upset is Beauty and the Beast. An upset is the story of the Frog Prince.

Does anyone notice anything interesting about my list? Come on, ladies and gents you can do it. You can tell me what those three things have in common.

A beautiful woman falls for a man that is less than attractive.

Seriously, have you guys ever wondered why there isn't a story called The Frog Princess or The Ugly Stepsister and The Prince? Perhaps I'm the only one.

But, I digress. I was hoping to be the 2007 New York Giants. I was hoping to be the 10-6 wild-card team that came into the 2008 Super Bowl and beat the 16-0 team with less than a minute left on the clock. It was the upset of the century. Clearly, since I am in the friend zone, I am not the 2007 Giants.

Hmmm….Considering that there is no story called the Frog Princess or The Ugly Stepsister and The Prince, perhaps I should shoot for being the heavy favorite instead????

Taking a Poll

2009-01-27T16:34:00.000-05:00

So my last three blog posts have been very different than my previous posts and I’m really liking the direction that these posts are going. If this new voice that I seem to have found is the result of my most recent and possibly unsuccessful foray into the dating world, I think I will take it. But I want to hear from you. Do you want to read more of the sports and dating blogs? I have ideas for at least five more and I plan to post them once a week. Please comment and tell me what you think.

Throwing a Hail Mary Pass

2009-01-25T00:06:00.003-05:00

Welcome Sports Fans to the island of romantic hopelessness. You will be happy to learn that this blogger is not the only resident on that island. That's right. There are others here waiting for the Valentine's Day fairy to pick us up and put us in his sleigh and take us to…..Wait….wrong story.

Seriously, with my recent relocation to the friend zone instead of the end zone, I have had the opportunity to observe a friend of mine in romantic distress and on Friday, she threw what could only be called a Hail Mary pass. For those of you that are uninitiated in the world of football, a Hail Mary pass is a pass that is thrown near the end of the game that doesn't have a prayer of being caught, but if it is caught, it will win the game for the team that is on offense. The key word here is if.

Capital I. Capital F. IF……

A Hail Mary is a desperation play and my friend viewed herself as desperate. I don't think she was. In fact, had I been in her shoes, I would have gone for the field goal and tried for overtime.

But not my friend.

My friend went for the win. My friend went for the big time score. My friend sent the object of her possibly unrequited affection an email that could very well scare the life out of him.

When she told us about the email on Friday, I nearly fainted. You see, my friend is not the Hail Mary type of girl. My friend runs a very sensible offense usually, a mix of running plays and short passes. She relies on her good looks and bubbly personality to get her results. In the past, that offense has worked well. Maybe a little too well in some cases.

Through the first three quarters of my friend's game, the object of her affection was winning, but she'd turned things around and was beginning to make progress and there was a lot of time left on the clock. Granted it would be really easy for him to burn up the clock if the ball went back into his hands. So my friend went for the big play and sent the email that may scare him or it may not.

As of the writing of this blog, I do not know how my friend's game turned out, but I would like to steal from the Bud Light commercials and say….

Here's to you brave email sending girl who has been receiving mixed messages…… I hope your receiver catches the pass in the end zone.

Kalayna is running a contest

2009-01-21T06:05:00.002-05:00

For those of you who may not know, one of my critique partners has just published her first book. Woohoo! Since she has published her first book, she is also running her first contest.

Click here to enter

Sounds easy enough to enter.

The Friend Zone

2009-01-14T14:45:00.001-05:00

Attention riders on the monorail of love. The next stop on our excursion is The Friend Zone.

Yes, gentle blog readers, I have entered the dreaded Friend Zone. This is not to be confused with the end zone where people go when they score (so to speak). The Friend Zone is where people go when they don’t score. The Friend Zone is a place that you do not want to be. The Friend Zone is where unrequited affection meets friendship.

You see, I’m intimately familiar with the Friend Zone. I have spent interminable years there, but that is another story for another day. Suffice it to say that I gave up the Friend Zone a few years ago when I gave up dating.

I was content with my no-man’s land of a life and I thought everything was going swimmingly. Then, I met my “distraction.” That’s right. I’m talking about the same “distraction” from last week. At the time I wrote the last blog, I thought that things were going well…that I was moving the ball slowly to the end zone.

I thought that at the very least, I’d crossed the 50 yard line and was in the opponent’s territory . I was expecting a cursory defense, but apparently I was wrong.

First and 10.

There were signs. You know the ones I mean. I suggest seeing him again and he sort of shies away from committing himself. “I’m going to watch the football game next Saturday” he says. He knows that I like football. He says hello on his own later in the week, but it’s the friendly, non-personal type of hello. I was about to listen to the Clemson basketball game and told him as much so I was ok with the conversation ending a little early, but still a little confused.

The running back is hit behind the line of scrimmage.

Second and 13

Next night, I see him online and I say hello. We talk a little while about more generic stuff. He’s online paying his taxes. I give broad hints about the weekend, but nothing. Then, he says he’s going to bed. It is barely 10pm.

Incomplete pass.

Third down and 13 yards to go.

The alarm bells are going off in full force at this point. I don’t hear from him for two days and then, I’m watching the football game on Saturday and I see that he’s on myspace so I send him some nonsensical comment about the game. (Yes, I know, I’m escorting myself to the friend zone with that one, but I had to do something. Let’s call it a trick play.) We talk back and forth and eventually, I ask him if he wants to come over tomorrow. “I’m cooking.” I say. He says “No, he has to work.” We talk a little while longer, but there is no mention of seeing each other again. I go hang out with a friend and then send him a teasing message later about something he’d talked about earlier. He responds with what I hope was a good sense of humor.

Screen pass for a gain of 10 yards.

Fourth and 3 yards to go.

So, I guess I’m punting to him at this point. If he’d given me any hint that he was interested, I’d try a trick play and go for it, but his defense has been stout so I’m not even going to try. It seems that putting the ball in his hands is the only option. He can decide if he wants to go to the end zone or the Friend Zone.

But, unfortunately for me…..the signs are pointing to the Friend Zone.

Distractions

2009-01-08T15:56:00.002-05:00

I’m going to blog about distractions today. Specifically, a 5’11, brown-haired, brown-eyed, extremely cute, makes-me-feel-petite, boy-shaped distraction. This particular distraction is draining all my creative juices into the pool of rampant speculation about what he thinks about me.

This is EXTREMELY different to a girl that has successfully avoided “distractions” for four years.

I’m a romance writer….you would think that a romance writer would believe in romance and happily ever after. You would be wrong. See, I believe in love and lust and affection and compassion and all those other things that come with relationships. I just don’t believe that it happens the way that it happens in a romance novel and well, that is healthy. Romance novels sell fantasy. They sell a world that doesn’t exist. They sell hope that Prince Charming is going to sweep you off your feet and save you. Listen to me right now, you have to save yourself. Years of living and observation have proved this to be true. Hard times happen. Marriages and relationships break up. People die. That is reality and that reality makes the fantasy just that much more valuable to us as writers and as readers.

Happily ever after is relative. I’ve always figured that my happily ever after involved me and my gay best friend and an RV travelling across the country in our old age.

Travelling in an RV still might be my future, but the waters begin to be muddied when you date and dating was something that I’d all but stopped doing. After a series of bad first dates, I stepped off the dating train four years ago with no regrets.

Then, it happened as it always happens. A friend says “I have someone that you should meet.” You reluctantly agree. At least, I did and I was pleasantly surprised to see that he had more going for him than his personality if you know what I mean. It took a little while, but eventually he asked me out and I agreed.

That was my first mistake.

You see, for me, dating is like a roller coaster. You get on the ride and it starts moving, climbing the hill, slowly. You start looking over the side, anywhere but in front of you, where you can see the summit of the hill looming. You start having regrets and thinking if you could get off of this roller coaster, you would. You get to the top of the hill and then WHOOSH and a thrill runs through you, but each time you crest a hill or get ready to turn upside down, you have moments of doubt and insecurity.

That is what dating is to me and it is very, very distracting. The time that I would normally spend on my characters and plot have been spent in moments of doubt and insecurity. Does he like me back? He said I was interesting. What does that mean? He’s not talking to me as much as he was last week. Then, I hang out with him, we talk, cuddle, and kiss and the thrill starts again.

I know, I know. I am crazy, but I like roller coasters in the same way that I like romance novels. The roller coaster is the romance novel. It is the fantasy. It is the chance that something good could happen. It is the chance that you could fall off the coaster and die. The major difference between the roller coaster and the romance novel is that in a romance novel, you know that the main characters are going to get a happily ever after. But even with a roller coaster, you know that the ride will end happily, with the riders getting off safely and going to buy their commemorative photos.

With this particular roller coaster, I don’t know when or if this ride is going to end, but for now, I’m having a good time. I don’t know if this will change my vision of happily ever after or if this is just a bump in the road. I do know that this time with my “distraction” has reminded how much I like riding the roller coaster and made me think that even if I don’t stay on this particular ride, I might try another one later.

Now, if only I could figure out how to balance my “distraction” and my writing.

25 Things....

2009-01-07T13:17:00.003-05:00

Ok, I was inspired by my friend Elliot to do this...

I love MASH…I mean I really love MASH. I own all 11 seasons and I watch them over and over again. I can quote along with the dialogue on some of my favorite episodes.
I’m planning to run a 5K in February which is amazing. This time last year, I could barely walk 3 miles without being winded. Now, I’m planning to run 3.2 miles all the way through without stopping.
My house is full of unfinished craft projects.
My genuine love of sports became obsessive when I discovered I could use it as a defense mechanism against shopping.
I have a ton of plots and characters floating around in my head….and sometimes the characters talk to me and say “Write me…you must write me.”
Despite the above statement, I’m a terrible writer 90% of the time. If it weren’t for the other 10% of the time, I would quit.
I learned to knit back in March and now I rarely leave the house without having a knitting project in my bag.
I like having friends over to my house…..and I like knowing that my friends do not care if my house is in perfect condition every time they visit.
I told my mother that she couldn’t have a key to my house.
I get annoyed when people are really late.
I dislike the uncertainty of dating.
I dislike uncertainty….altogether.
There is something really freeing about trying something new.
Most of the time, I like my job.
I don’t believe in fairy tales.
You make your life. It isn’t handed to you.
Choices have consequences. Make sure that you can live with the consequences before you make the choice.
Weight Watchers works.
I want to go back to Flagstaff one day soon….and Paris…and Switzerland.
If I won the lottery, I would quit my job and spend a year traveling.
If I could go back to college and be 18 again, I would get a degree in history.
I want to learn to play the guitar.
When I run, I sing Angels Watching Over Me, Traveling Soldier, and The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia in my head over and over and over again. They are the only three songs that I know all the words to without hearing the music.
I don’t like making conversation when I’m running.
I ran a whole mile for the first time since I was 18 years old last night.

Goals for 2009

2009-01-05T18:58:00.001-05:00

I love making New Year's resolutions. It is like making a list that you can check off at the end of the year. I may build an excel spreadsheet this year, but I haven't decided. I am pleased to say that last year I accomplished four of the six resolutions that I set up for myself. That is success to me…I don't stress out about accomplishing everything on the list.

So without further ado……

Finish my current WIP. I'm writing a really awesome story and it deserves to be finished. Mackenzie and Seth are marvelous characters and they have definite chemistry
Re-write my current WIP. Despite the wonderful story and mythology that I've created, there are some definite issues.
Write at least one more book this year. I think I want to write my football player story. He has no name yet and neither does the love interest, but I'm sure I will figure something out.
Submit to an agent or editor. The Moonlight and Magnolias conference is next October. My goal is to have The Deepest Cut, edited and ready to submit.
Run a 5K. I'm currently scheduled to run a 5K in Myrtle Beach in February. Training hard now.
Learn something new. Last year, I learned to knit. I'm now doing all kinds of fun things. So I'm not going to be specific here.

That concludes the resolutions for 2009. I may post progress reports from time to time.

If Life Were A Romance Novel

2008-12-11T10:30:00.001-05:00

crossposted on www.themodernmythmakers.com

Reality stinks. It really stinks. You wake up in the morning and think about how much you don’t want to go to work. Then, you look at the ceiling and realize that if you want to keep the ceiling over your head, you have to go. Sigh. Next, you arrive at work and sit in a boring meeting or listen to your boss talk about things that give you heartburn for eight hours, working between interruptions. If you’re single, you go home to an empty house or a houseful of roommates that you would really like to avoid. If you’re married, you go home to a husband and his dirty socks or to your kids and their litany of complaints. See reality stinks. Ok, ok….this might not be an everyday experience, but it is one that happens way too often for most people’s comfort.

Life would be better if it were a romance novel.

Every girl would have a hero and a happily ever after. Money wouldn’t be an issue. Small business owners wouldn’t have to worry about payroll or health insurance for their employees. Good looking, protective, honorable, single CEOs would be all over the place like autumn leaves. Ranchers and farmers would always have plenty of money. Women would always look like a million bucks and if they didn’t, the good looking CEO wouldn’t care. Love and marriage means forever.

Life would be better if it were a romance novel….or would it?

Every girl would have a major problem. A malicious stalker. A kidnapped child. A business about to be taken over. A fiancé who isn’t what he seems. An evil mother or sister that wants to cause problems. The world would be in constant peril from unseen forces, sometimes supernatural unseen forces. Every hero would have had a troubled childhood or been scarred forever by a woman. Yes, he has a successful career, but he doesn’t have anything that matters. He’s sworn off marriage, but he doesn’t really mean it. He’s just waiting for the right woman. Doesn’t that sound like a barrel of laughs for the poor unsuspecting heroine to deal with? Doesn’t she have enough problems with the malicious stalker, kidnapped child, failing business, and evil mother?

Suddenly, reality doesn’t seem to be quite that bad….

The First Installment of Vikki's Movie List

2008-12-07T23:04:00.003-05:00

As a writer, I love old movies. The dialogue is often very crisp and flows well. Sure the special effects are nothing compared to the special effects of today, but the writing and plot are usually awesome. These are must-see movies and are listed in no particular order.

1. The Sound of Music - I love Julie Andrews. My dad introduced me to this one. I came home from church one Sunday night and he told me there was a movie on that he really thought I would enjoy. He wasn't wrong. I still love the song 16 going on 17 even though it has been years since I was 16 years old.

2. Singing In the Rain - The best ever Gene Kelly movie and I've seen a lot of them. The dancing by all three of the movie stars was spectacular. "Good morning! Good morning! Its great to stay up late! Good morning....."

3. Casablanca - As Time Goes by...Rick and Ilsa...Here's looking at you, kid. There are no words to describe this one.

4. I Was A Male War Bride - Actually, anything with Cary Grant. This one is my favorite by him though because of the spectacular humor. Not everyone can look dashing and handsome dressed as a very ugly woman.

5. It Happened One Night - Clark Gable's best movie (even better than Gone with the Wind). Claudette Colbert's way of hitchhiking was much better than Clark Gable's. The dialogue is spectacular.

I'll be adding to the list later....

Nano is Upon Us!

2008-10-31T21:57:00.002-04:00

We are mere hours away from Nanowrimo.....Very excited and very unprepared. I have a story, a mythology, characters, and nothing else. That seems like enough...not really because I don't have enough of any of them. Ugh!!!!! Panic! Panic! Panic!

Write Like A Reader

2008-10-20T22:40:00.004-04:00

Actually....Edit Like a Reader would be a better title but I like alliteration so I used Write Like a Reader instead. Tonight I went to the writers workshop. The critiques made me start thinking....

How would I feel about this if I were a reader?

As a writer and a self-editor, it is important to think like a reader. Readers are brutal. Readers have lots of choices, many, many other books and authors to choose from. Readers do not have to read or more importantly buy your book.

So I think as authors, we need to ask ourselves these questions.

Would I turn the page? A reader needs to be hooked into the story. I, as a reader, have picked up a book only to put it down five minutes later because the story didn't intrigue me. When I edit, I read for hooks. I try to make sure the last sentence on the page is something that would make the reader turn the page.
Am I bored? This is slightly different than making the reader turn the page. This is about having a compelling enough story that the reader wants to keep going. Key elements of a compelling story are characters that a reader can love or hate and conflict that is believable.

Why do I need to know this? As a writer, I love to talk about my world or interesting bits of information. It is fun. You have created this elaborate mythology where witches masquerade as lawyers and the ocean is full of treasure hunting mermaids and vampires came to the American colonies on pirate ships. You want people to know about it. Unfortunately, when you write and you include this information, it slows down the story and you risk boring the reader and giving the reader a reason to stop reading. You must be brutal and cut anything that gives the reader a reason to stop reading.

It is really terribly painful for a writer to think this way. We all want to think that our novels are perfect and that every word that we've labored and agonized over is absolutely necessary. The cold, hard, bitter truth is that we write with the idea that someone is going to read our work and it is our job, yes, job, to insure that the reader enjoys our material. Therefore, editing like a reader is absolutely essential.

Noveling 101

2008-10-16T05:38:00.004-04:00

Last night, my co-ML (link to her handout) for the Columbia region and I hosted Noveling 101. Other than the tri-Mus, we only had one participant, but that is OK! This is the handout that I made for the workshop. Which was sort more of a facilitated discussion. It was mentioned that I left out the question Why.....you can add that on your own.

Who

Characters – Nearly every story needs a character with which the reader can identify.
Point of View – the viewpoint from which a story is told.
- 1^st Person – The narrator is the main character. 1^st person POV is characterized by the use of "I."
- 2^nd Person – Remember the Choose Your Own Adventure novels. These were told using 2^nd person POV. The reader was the main character. "You" is used often in 2^nd person.
- 3^rd Person Close – The narrator is inside the characters head. He/she can hear the thoughts and emotions of the character but they don't use "I."
- 3^rd Person – Omniscient – The narrator is an observer. He/she sees the story happening but they do not experience the characters' emotions or thoughts.

What

Plot – a framework on which your story is built. Most plots include an Inciting Incident, Rising Action, a Climax, Falling Action, and a Resolution.
3 Act Structure – One of the easiest frameworks to remember. Shakespeare used this in most of his plays.

When

Pacing - the speed in which the story moved. Certain words convey urgency. Certain words convey lassitude.
Timing – the date and time that the story occurs. This doesn't have to be exact, but if you're writing World War II story, you probably don't want to set it in 2008.
Length – No, not word count! Length in this instance is the amount of time that passes from the first page of the first chapter to the last page of the last chapter.

Where

Setting – Real or imagined, setting can play a pivotal role in your story. It impacts every aspect of your story from characters to plot.
- World building – Even imaginary worlds need rules.
- Sensory Details – Use your five senses to add detail to your story. It is an excellent way to add word count!!!

How

Remember this is NaNo! Quantity is more important than quality.
Butt in Chair. Hands on Keyboard.
If you can't find the time, steal it!
Pre-planning can be really helpful especially if you're a plotter. Join us for the plotting bash.
There's nothing like a little moral support. Attend as many write-ins as you can.

Moonlight and Magnolias

2008-10-12T22:51:00.001-04:00

Proof That I Overpacked

2008-10-05T22:15:00.003-04:00

I will be posting more later in the week about the absolutely fabulous Moonlight and Magnolias conference that I went to this weekend, but for now.....I leave you with absolute proof that I overpacked.....This is from my return trip and includes the raffle bag that I won and the bag of books that I acquired at the conference (all autographed!). We could no longer fit my fellow Tri-Mu's belongings in the trunk. Kalayna's stuff went into the backseat for the return trip. I'm such a sad, sad person. Becoming a two trips to the car girl from the hotel room is nearly an unforgivable sin!

The Challenge of Traveling

2008-10-02T09:53:00.002-04:00

So when I contemplated taking my iron to the conference, I knew that I had gone too far. You see, I can't take a trip for a weekend without packing like I'm traveling for a month. I sit in my bedroom, surrounded by my stuff, and I pack for every possible contingency that I can think of. I'm pretty sure that it's hereditary because the rest of my mother's family is just like me. If the women in our family were dropped on a deserted island with only our luggage, I think we could survive for a year (provided we didn't kill each other and that we could find a source of fresh drinking water).

The point of that story is that I am going to Moonlight and Magnolias today for my very first writers' conference. I'm really excited about it. And as usual, I'm overpacked. (Yes, I'm taking the iron.) The car is packed and my fellow Tri-Mu, Kalayna and I will be leaving soon. She is not usually an over-packer, but between the two of us, we're taking enough stuff to live at the Hilton for a couple of months. So, apparently, not only is over-packing hereditary, it is also contagious.

I plan on posting pictures from the conference next week so stay tuned!

Nanowrimo is upon us!

2008-09-29T22:06:00.003-04:00

Well, it is that time of year again. November is quickly coming upon us....ok in some ways it isn't coming fast enough! I'm ready for Nano...well not really, I'm plotting my novel now. I'm really, really excited about it.

I think that it is going to be a great novel. I have a fabulous idea and a couple of great characters. In an unusual turn of events for me, the idea came first and then the characters. Usually, my characters come first. Sometimes, it can be a challenge to figure out what to do with them and to give them conflict. Hehe...but I usually figure it out.

We already have new wrimos on the message boards. Come visit us on the boards and if you're in Columbia, affiliate with our region.

Olympic-sized Writing Challenge

2008-08-08T13:09:00.001-04:00

I love the Olympics….The pageantry, the fanfare, the competition, the winners, the losers, and most importantly, the stories. There are some great stories this year. Dara Torres, a 41-year old mother, will be competing in her 5th Olympics (they weren’t even consecutive Olympics) as the world-record holder in the 50 meter freestyle swimming. Lopez Lomong, one of the Lost Boys of Sudan, is carrying the American flag in the opening ceremony and is competing in track and field for his adopted country, the United States of America. I can’t wait to here more!!

For weeks now, I’ve been watching the Visa commercials. Olympians overcoming overwhelming odds to do extraordinary things. I have two favorites. In the Kerri Strugg commercial, Morgan Freeman’s voice talks about the vault and its difficulty and then ends with “and she did it all on one foot.” The other is about a track and field runner from Great Britain that tore his hamstring on the track and with his father’s help finished the race. I’m really not sure how these commercials relate to Visa, but I love them. They are soooo inspiring.

The commercials tell me…you’re going to stumble, you’re going to fall. Get up and keep going. Writing is like that. You’re going to face rejection. You’re going to face writer’s block. You just have to keep moving forward and improving and eventually, you’re going to cross that finish line and maybe if you’re lucky, stand on that gold medal podium of success.

With that in mind, I am challenging anyone who wants to join me to challenge yourself for the next 18 days. My challenge is to finish a skeletal first draft of my current WIP. Writing THE END will be my gold medal!

My One Real Skill….Procrastination

2008-07-10T21:47:00.001-04:00

I love to write.

I do.

Really, I do, but sometimes, the words just aren't there.

Here are some things that I do when the words aren't coming all that freely.

Blogging. To the untrained ear, this actually sounds like writing. I mean blog is a shortened form of web log. Sort of an electronic equivalent of a sailor's log book. A place to record (i.e. write) the day's occurrences. Ummm….Not the way I do it. See when I blog, I like to play around with the design of my template or someone else's template. Unless, you consider writing code, writing, this is an excellent tool for avoidance.

Knitting. Knitting is the newest way for me to avoid writing. Yarn is becoming an addiction. I'm now a regular attendee of a "Sit and Knit" at the local yarn store. I'm now making knitting friends so I can have more people to help me avoid writing.

Reading. I would venture to say that most writers love to read. I've decided to call my reading, research. Do you think that will work?

Making a Living. Unfortunately, this is the main culprit behind my recent lack of productivity on the "novella." My work has fallen on me and I'm trying to dig my way out. That being said. I like my job best when I have a lot to do so my hope is that in a couple of weeks, I will figure out how to balance the need to pay my bills and the desire to write competent fiction.

What do you do to procrastinate?

Lessons from the History books or If I were a Congresswoman…..

2008-06-24T20:50:00.001-04:00

Sometimes I'm very frightened by the fact that we have learned nothing from history. The following paragraph is a very big generalization about the Great Depression and may not be 100% accurate, but it is the more or less what happened.

In 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt won the presidency by promising a New Deal for Americans. The incumbent Hoover administration had badly bungled things on the economy. They spent a lot of time wringing their hands and saying "Woe is me." The Hoover administration focused their improvements on things that would have little or no impact for the average American. (Sound familiar?) Roosevelt's New Deal kept things simple. He focused on the biggest problem. People were scared of the future and what it held for them. They were scared that they couldn't feed their families. They were scared of losing their homes and their jobs. Roosevelt calmed those fears by creating the alphabet soup agencies and creating work for out of work Americans. By the time that World War II hit, things were improving. Economist still argue about what brought us out of the depression (some say the war was what really brought us out of the Depression) or if we would have come out of the depression on our own. Regardless of the answer to this question, Roosevelt's New Deal was a psychological boost to the American people.

In 2008, the biggest problem facing Americans is fear. It is essentially the same problem that Roosevelt faced. Americans are frightened of losing their homes, jobs, lifestyles, etc. We are not as poor as we were then, but we're frightened all the same. We see rising costs everywhere, we see home values deteriorating, we see record high gas prices, and we've got a new worry, climate change. It is also very clear that our current policies aren't working quickly enough. In fact I would call most of the politicians in Congress and the Whitehouse Hooveresque. (Yes, I made up that word.)

I think it is time for a new New Deal. Here's what I think should be done.

Bring down the cost of gas by decreasing the demand for it.
- Tax breaks or subsidies for people that buy more fuel efficient cars (not just people that buy hybrids.) Thirty miles per gallon is pretty darn efficient if you've been driving something that gets less than 20 miles per gallon. At 12,000 miles per year and $4 per gallon, a driver can save $800 or 200 gallons.
- Tax breaks or subsidies for people that buy and then drive more fuel efficient vehicles like motorcycles, scooters, or electric cars.
- Subsidize local governments that are hurt by the decreasing demand for gasoline. When things improve, encourage them to increase their gas tax.
Subsidize the building of walking trails, sidewalks, and bike paths to local town centers (I would ride my bike to the store if I weren't afraid of death or disability) and make sure that they have adequate bike racks.
- Benefit: A healthier population usually equates to lower healthcare costs.
- Benefit: Decreases the demand for gasoline.
- Benefit: Creates employment opportunities.
Subsidize the building or expansion of public transit systems.
Create a new industry for green power or renewable fuels.
- Throw money at companies willing to do the research and development of these types of energy and to produce them quickly. (Examples: Solar Panels, Wind Turbines, synthetic fuels, etc.)
- Create government funded training programs for working in this type of industry by working with existing educational entities.
- Offer initial tax breaks and subsidies to companies or individuals willing to purchase these types of goods and services.
Prop up existing essential industries and offer tax breaks to those companies that are willing to gamble on growth.
Provide mortgage relief to distressed homeowners (My ideas for this are all bad).
- This is an extreme idea, but in places where there is a significant glut of excess homes. Purchase them and bulldoze them. This is an easy way to decrease supply. (I think a city in Ohio is actually trying to do this).
- Make the mortgage rates extremely affordable to first time buyers.
- Regulate the market more. Encourage fixed rate mortgages not ARMs or interest only.
- Help underwater homeowners refinance at the current market price of their house. Allow banks and mortgage companies to write off this debt.
For heaven's sake, make sure the media reports some good news. Reporting bad news all the time scares people to death and makes things worse.

As Roosevelt said, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

A New Goal

2008-06-18T22:42:00.000-04:00

So....I'm a member of a small writing group and we call ourselves the Modern Mythmakers. Isn't that a fabulous name for a writing group? We're all genre writers and we are all actively pursuing publication as a goal. Here's the problem....none of us are published yet.

So we've set a goal....By December of 2009, we're all going to be submitting stuff to be published. I'm really hoping to have it happen sooner. I'd like to submit my Nocturne Bite by the end of the year.

I've started it, but after talking to the group, I think that it has problems. I'll have to fix them.

South Carolina Writers Workshop

2008-06-08T21:32:00.000-04:00

So for the past few weeks, I've been diligently working setting up a blog for the Columbia II Chapter of the South Carolina Writers Workshop. Well, we're finally done!

Check it out!!

http://columbiawritersworkshop.blogspot.com

It's a fun group of people.

The Real Cost of $4 Gas

2008-05-25T11:27:00.000-04:00

I was a business major in college and a nerd for most of my life. This doesn’t mean anything really except that sometimes I have a tendency to think in dollars and cents. That’s what I’ve been doing lately with the cost of gasoline. Don’t get me wrong. I hate spending $4 a gallon on gas. That’s why I did this analysis.

Here are the numbers.

In May of 2007, in South Carolina we were paying around $2.80 per gallon for gasoline. That means if you were driving a car that got 30 mpg, you were paying $0.09 per mile that you traveled. If you were driving a car that got 20 mpg, you were paying $0.14 per mile that you traveled.

In May of 2008, it is predicted that we will hit $4.00 per gallon for gasoline. That means if you are driving a car that gets 30 mpg, you will pay $0.13 per mile that you travel. If you drive a car that gets 20 mpg, you will pay $0.20 per mile that you travel.

From May 2007 to May 2008, the cost of driving a mile has gone up by $0.06 for many drivers with SUVs and large cars. This means that you spend $6.00 more on 100 mile trip than you did this time last year.

To put this in more personal terms, I drive a 1999 Chevy Cavalier that on average gets around 30 mpg and I live about 100 miles away from my parents’ home in Pamplico. My cost per mile increased $0.04. It now costs me $8.00 more per trip to visit my family.

I think I read somewhere that the average person drives about 1000 miles per month (that’s what I drive). This means that the average person is spending about $60.00 more in gas a month than they did this time last year. I don’t know about you, but I spend way more than that on entertainment and other unnecessary stuff every month.

I think the real cost and yes the real benefit of $4.00 gas is psychological. People are now thinking about their consumption again. In the past decades, American society has begun to believe that bigger is better. We’ve built bigger houses and bigger cars as our families have gotten smaller. My grandparents raised nine kids in a one bathroom-three bedroom house. It was a tight squeeze, but they managed. We now have families raising one kid in a McMansion. To build the bigger houses, we’ve moved farther and farther away from where our jobs are located and created what is commonly called suburban sprawl. This means that we’re driving bigger gas-guzzling cars more miles.

We have to change and $4.00 gas illustrates that better than all preaching of the actors, politicians, scientists, and activists combined. A vehicle that gets 7 mpg is not a smart decision. A vehicle that gets 40 mpg or better is.

Articles on things that could be done now!!!

http://benelling.wordpress.com/2007/11/01/incredible-efficiency-and-lower-emissions-the-genius-of-jonathan-goodwin/
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/04/24/beck.oil.prices/index.html
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2005/11/b1157843.html

Why the heck aren't the car companies and the government doing these things now?

Rant completed. Back to my writing.