#Writerly Wednesday Preparing for NaNoWriMo 2012

Yep, I'm doing it. I announced it a couple of weeks ago, but decided to make it official on the blog seeing as I only have approximately 2 weeks to get my head wrapped around the idea. This shouldn't be intimidating, considering I've done and won 5 NaNos before, but after skipping last year because I was deep in edits before Castaway Hearts came out this past April, I'm feeling a bit nervous about rejoining the ranks of fellow writers on this journey into 30 days of writing insanity.

Well, I have to admit, I'm nervous, but I'm eager, too. I haven't written "new" in what seems like forever and I'm chomping at the bit to get started. There's a current of excitement rippling under the surface, revving my engine and getting me charged with writing energy that I haven't felt in a long time. I know I burned out a while back, so writing has not been a top priority on my list, but it needs to be.

I was tired, yes...tired of writing because I burned through so much midnight oil in such a short amount of time that I needed to recover. Three years of almost non-stop writing took its toll, but that doesn't mean I haven't THOUGHT about writing almost CONSTANTLY. It eats away at me that I haven't produced much more than a few paragraphs here and there, finished a manuscript, but still feel I've come up short of my own expectations.

I'm hoping this year's NaNo will be the kindling I need to reignite the writing fire in my tummy and set me ablaze! This was, for 5 years, a very big part of my November- the crazed writing and chewing on Twizzlers and popping gum and guzzling lots of caffeine. It's a good thing I have a very understanding husband, who will cheer me on each evening when he gets home by checking to see how many words I've pummeled onto the screen. I used to not have his support, but he's quite the cheerleader for me these days.

If anyone needs a writing buddy, or just someone to talk to, bounce ideas off of or just give you a good swift kick to get you going again, I'm here, so feel free to leave me comments on the blog or email me, find me at www.nanowrimo.org and add me as a buddy. As someone who's wrestled this bear called NaNo before, I can promise you that it's worth it. You can defeat those 50,000 words and you can come out the other side with a little something to show for it. Of course, afterwards, you'll have to untie your internal editor and let her/him get to work cleaning up the drivel, but YES, it's totally worth the craziness of doing National Novel Writing Month!

Come join me!

#TuesdayswithTaryn~ @MissyFrye #NewRelease #USO's #Indie #Writers for the #Troops

Tuesdays with Taryn

Missy Frye

What book(s) most influenced you as a writer?

I've loved reading for so long that it's difficult to narrow this one down. The Large and Growly Bear by Gertrude Crampton and illustrated by J.P. Miller, Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery and Dancing at Midnight by Julia Quinn.

What book do you read over and over again?

Fireflies in December by Jennifer Erin Valent and more recently Divergent by Veronica Roth. I admit to re-reading the Harry Potter series as well.

Tuesday Trio-

1)      Movie-  I can't choose just one! Apollo 13, The Princess and the Warrior, Penelope, Harvey, Rio Bravo and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

2)      Music-  Dean Martin, Sammy Hagar, KT Tunstall

3)      Decadent Dessert-  Chocolate Silk Pie

What’s the most interesting or bizarre bit of trivia you’ve learned from researching for a novel? Interesting: there's a difference between being in a Coma and being in a Vegetative State. Bizarre: there is a Van Halen Encyclopedia online. I know, there are more bizarre things out there, but this really blew me away.

Novel on your Nightstand:

Who/what are you currently reading?

Book One of The Toadhouse Trilogy by Jess Lourey

Whom would you cast as your Main Characters/Hero/Heroine if your book became a movie?

Paz - Kayla Clary

Miltonia Butterflies Blurb: The garden young Paz passes on her way home from the library is a temptation she cannot resist. Within it's borders a beautiful flower awaits. 

Once discovered, Paz longs to share its beauty with her mother. To do so, she must overcome a few obstacles and reveal something about herself no one knows.

Miltonia Butterflies will be released October 21, 2012 and the first week's proceeds will be donated to the 

USO's Indie Writers for the Troops. 

If any other writers would like to join the fundraising, you can donate proceeds from one day, one week or simply make a one time donation. 

Smashwords
Short Stories by Missy Frye
Missy's Website  

Missy Writes

#sixsunday Six Sentence Sunday- Kiss her you fool!

(click above image to read MORE Six Sentence Sunday excerpts)

(Check out more by looking up hashtag #sixsunday on Twitter)

Welcome Sixers. It's been a long week recovering from my week-long visit to my parents and the yard sale. I nearly forgot to post today!

For those who might not know here's what 6 Sentence Sunday is all about-

Pick six (6) sentences from anything you like (it can be from a Work in Progress (WiP), something you recently sold, something you hope to sell or even something already under contract and available for purchase – and don’t worry, Six Sentence Sunday is for published AND unpublished writers). Then post them on your blog on Sunday. That’s all there is to it!

You can add yours link to their official list by signing up before midnight the Saturday beforehand.

Heading back into my currently unpublished contemporary romance, Love by Design.

Love by Design

Jasmine Galloway sees beauty in all things but it’s not a thing of beauty when she meets Derrek Martin, a shallow, arrogant playboy celebrity. When her sister Juniper, a blockbuster actress, recommends her interior design business, Décor Dreams, to Derrek, it’s sure to be a disaster. Jasmine is uncertain she can hold her tongue and get the job done, but she takes it, never one to let her opinions of others stand in the way of professional success and she’s not about to let some pretty boy win her over whose ego is as big as his blockbuster movies. It isn’t long before Derrek’s gentle, affectionate manner and country boy charm gets the better of her. She curses herself for allowing the tabloid fodder to contaminate her impression of a man who might well put his designs on her heart.

Derrek Martin counts himself lucky his acting career took off shortly after his arrival in California. Even more since his parents’ deaths left him the guardian of his little sister. The new house is nice, but it needs a woman’s touch before he brings Paige out from Indiana to live with him. He knows his reputation in the tabloids depicts him far from who he really is, but he has never met with a more chilly reception than the moment he meets Jasmine Galloway, Interior Designer to the Stars. He’s sure she has read everything bad ever published about him and disregards all the good. His private life is simply that, private. Derrek intends to keep it that way—until he meets Jasmine.

Her blatant dislike for him pushes a button no one else ever has and Derrek finds he’s desperate to prove that he isn’t what the tabloids make him out to be. More than that, he’s determined to make her his leading lady, but will an ex with a secret steal the spotlight away?

****

After inspecting the other rooms, Jasmine nearly falls down the stairs. Thank goodness Derrek was there, but bless him...she's such a temptation.

He heard the snag of a high heel on the carpet and a gasp before he turned and caught Jasmine with an oomph. Derrek gripped the railing with one hand while his other had moved in a flash around her waist, bracing them both from tumbling down the rest of the steps.

Her body pressed into his, her breasts heaving against his chest. With their faces mere inches apart he could see her lips glisten with near transparent gloss that smelled of peaches. Jasmine’s perfume had such a heady scent it almost made him dizzy.

When she licked her lips, temptation whispered in his ear—Kiss her you fool.

If you missed previous Six Sunday posts from Love by Design and would like to check them out, look at the top of the page in my pink tabs for SSS Posts where you can easily find links to each previous post.

Taryn Raye's #SCENTsational Saturdays The Way to a Man's Heart- Easy Coconut Cookies

When I stayed with my folks last week, my mom made this ooey gooey easy coconut cookies and I just had to share the recipe today because it's such a simple recipe and because we're getting closer to the holidays and I'm just a smidge tired of talking about body wash and soap, so I thought...hey, why not share another new recipe!

Easy Coconut Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup All-Purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup Rice Krispies

1/2 cup flaked coconut

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350º

1. Cream together the shortening and sugars
2. Add egg and vanilla, mix until well blended
3. Add flour and baking soda, until well blended
4. Add Rice Krispies cereal and flaked coconut, until well blended
5. Drop by spoonfuls onto foil lined cookie sheet
6. Bake at 350º for 8-10 minutes or until lightly brown

You can use a toothpick to the center to test them. If it comes out clean, they're ready to come out of the oven. You can also add a drop or two of either almond extract or coconut extract along with the 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla for an added burst of flavor.

Here's hoping my hubby will enjoy them as much as I did. Have a SCENTsational Saturday!