The Irresistibly Sweet Blog Award

Well, looky what I woke up to this morning. The last thing I expected Twitter to announce this morning was that I'd had a mention from a dear writer, nominating me for a sweet blog award. From my talented fellow KYRW Cherie Marks, I wish to thank you for such an honor and say I'm thrilled to be in such wonderful company in this crazy business. You are awesome!

The Rules of this award are simple:
1. Thank and link to the person who nominated you.
2. Share 7 random facts about yourself.
3. Pass the Award on to 10 deserving blog buddies.
4. Contact those buddies and let them know.

Seven Random Juicy (or not so juicy) Facts about Lil' Ol' Me-

1. I can pick up small items with my toes. (pens, paper clips, coins, my sandals by their straps)

2. I'm crazy about wild nail polish colors. (sometimes I wear a different color on each nail)

3. I'm fully grown, but still don't have my license. (Though I do have my permit)

4. One of the jobs I had in my youth was printing keyboard keys for laptops. (Ironic- that's what I'm typing this blog on.)

5. I was/still am a huge Quantum Leap fan. (Scott Bakula can STILL make me weak in the knees)

6. I've wanted to be a writer since I was 10/11 years old. (I need it like I need air in my lungs)

7. I LOVE to karaoke. (Warning **You may need earplugs if you're within earshot**)

~Now~
To pass the torch on to some really Fantabulously Sweet Bloggers

Devon Matthews
Cheryl St. John
Renee Vincent
Cheryl Norman
Keri Ford
Michelle Willingham
Petticoats & Pistols
Stacey Kayne
The Sisterhood of the Jaunty Quills
Turquoise Morning Press

Thanks again Cherie! Have a great Friday people, and Happy Memorial Day Weekend! Enjoy this long weekend, take it easy, have fun with family and friends and relish the fact that Summer is on it's way! Be careful and safe travels to all!

Highlighting Errors

It's funny how easy it is to fall into a pattern with grammar and speech to the point that you don't even realize you do it.

I made it through the main edits and hope to goodness when I reformatted the file, it took the right way. (All the indents and margins settings). I did, what I considered, a really good sweep through the manuscript and spent quite a bit of time altering sentences and doing some rewrites that I felt improved and made it read smoother and better.

Then I started through the checklist of things to watch for. I started with the adverbs. Find -ly words and see what my grand total is. It was SCARY. Editor's suggestion- Find the total and then remove at least half, if not more of these tricky, excessive words that pretty it up a bit, make you feel "frilly," but too often take up space and restrict the flow of the writing when they aren't necessary. Too much of a good thing-too much of ANYTHING- can't be good for you.

So there it was- this HUGE number staring me down. I'm too embarrassed to say just HOW many were in there, but let's just say its on the backside of the hundreds. I thought-

WHAT IS THIS INSANITY? DID I REALLY THROW THEM ABOUT WILLY-NILLY?

I realized though a few words I used can't be counted. Like the word FAMILY. Is it an adverb? Really? No, of course not. It's a noun or an adjective depending on how you use it and it just happens to end in -ly. The name "Emily" is also a noun, not an adverb, but when searching -ly words, it snags them too-lumping them in with all the other bright little yellow highlights on the screen. It's a cinch, I'm not going to be removing the word family or the name of the heroine's deceased grandmother, whom she still thinks of often in loving remembrance.

I will say that the word I was surprised to see I use most was- ONLY. I lost count of how many times I found it. I've removed and replaced more than half of these dreadful words, so far, and intend to tackle what's left today. Then I'll be moving on to the next thing on the editor's checklist.

Needless to say~~It's an eye opening experience when you start zeroing in on the flaws in your writing. In ways, it's devastating, but at the same time it's also liberating. My mind is more aware of this vice now and it will make me a stronger writer for having that knowledge as I continue to tackle edits on this and other manuscripts and as I write more novels.

It never hurts to remind yourself, as an author, of your imperfections, so long as you don't let it hinder your process. Highlighting errors sharpens your mind and your writing and that's ALWAYS a good thing.

Have a wonderful Hump Day
and
Write On!

Mother's Day

“A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove...but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child.”

Cowgirl Up!

I need a boot camp to reteach me how to focus. All the manuscripts I have finished were written in great part due to having, what I would call, writerly tunnel vision.

I was SO wrapped up in story and writing that I simply zoned out of "life" whenever my fingers came to rest on the keyboard. There was peace in it. I had a Muse and my focus was so tight, I didn't get distracted by much.

Like a rodeo rider of writing, my focus was a bucking bronco and I hung on for dear life, clearing the 8 seconds without so much as blinking an eye. I loved it. The thrill of every moment I tapped out more words, creating a reality within my fantasy worlds and breathing life into characters that had, thus far, only existed in my imagination.

But then, home life altered when my husband had to change jobs. And then came his on-the-job injuries and rehabilitation from knee surgery and other disruptions in the background of our lives.

No longer able to rely on a Monday through Friday schedule- one that I had once relied on so heavy to get so many words pumped out- Now my weeks are this buckshot of scattered hours and odd days off. My normalcy has been shot all to bits and I'm left picking pellets out of myself, peering through the holes that remain in my routine and wondering how to piece them together.

I've been trying to turn our current schedule into something I'm able to "use." It doesn't seem to be working for me though. I can't concentrate, I find myself thinking and dwelling on all the time I waste not being productive in any way. Yes, I just said it- I'm wasting time by wasting time. LOL

I've cast aside my yoga and walking as well as my writing. And I hate it.

I need to come back to my center- to find the focus that has seemingly vanished from my grasp. Yoga was one thing I've found that was helping me center myself emotionally and the walking made me feel better physically. Now I need to get my mental focus in check, for my writings sake, and bring all those things into balance together.

I'm going to have to play around with our weekly schedule and see if there isn't some way to alter my waking/sleeping hours to make this work not just for me but for the kids and my husband's schedules, too. It needs tweaking, especially on hubby's odd days off, which feel like a weekend in the middle of the week and instead of enjoying it, we're running to the grocery and taking care of the things that we would normally put off until the "weekend."

Truth is, that leaves the weekend not feeling like much of one at all and for me it's a downright nuisance. My brain works on a Monday-Friday schedule- I guess because I have little ones in school, but with my husband's work schedule, wherein Monday-Friday is this foreign idea that doesn't mesh, I'm stuck trying to figure out where I can fit MY schedule in. Especially now that I am going to be published. I HAVE to get my edits done in a timely manner and be able to make a schedule that works for me.

Nighttime writing and editing and working might be my only course of action. I've contemplated it before, but always end up going to bed when my husband does on the nights he has work the next day, but also because I have the kids to get up for school during the week, as well. I go to bed with a serious guilt complex that tears me between responsibilities to home and responsibilities to my writing career. Especially when the family doesn't see that I HAVE responsibilities now, not just to them, but to my publisher and that this isn't just "Mommy's" hobby or the little wife's "playtime."

So there it is---Maybe I'm a bit too southern, but I'm afraid it's time to cowgirl up, pull up my big girl panties, dust off my denim, slap my hat back on my head and stuff my feet into my ass-kicking boots.

If I don't have a a special camp for it, I'll just have to take the bull by the horns (or bronco by his mane) and lasso my focus back into submission, bucking and snorting the entire way. I'll break the beast just enough to get back up there astride and tame it to my needs.