Monday, July 26, 2010

Improv on Muse Monday

I'm blogging today on Muse Monday over at Blame It on the Muse

Come on over and participate in the Improv experiment.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Bonnie the Wannabe Hurricane


Looks like we'll get a little rain from that wonderfully pitiful hurricane wannabe that's headed this way (that's me waving hi under the top black rectangle). We need the rain desperately and the gulf didn't, so as far as this storm is concerned, the only way it could have been more perfect was if it had died out completely. Especially considering it was like a bullseye on the oil spill (the second highest dot).

So far so good. I spoke to someone yesterday who vacationed on the beach last week and said it was beautiful, workers standing by to clean it up but they enjoyed their trip. Hopefully, the marshes weren't hurt too much by the removal of the booms prior to the storm.

For once, most of the country is hotter than we are. Stay cool.

Goals ~  On target
My first re-working of FIMB is done, enough that I can work on the pitch and synopsis. Next, I plan to do the same for OTHR which should take about a week, maybe two (busy work week). Then, I'll get my notes together for re-crafting Tempest Rising and spend the time before October conference getting it revised and the sequel started. Nano begins in November, which may be good timing to write book two.  I'll have to look at last year's results to see if I want to do it officially or unofficially.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Who Do you Write Like?

I WRITE LIKE


I write like
Stephen King
I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!



Well, obviously not, or I'd be published, famous, and wealthy. However, I do write and play the guitar like Stephen King.

Anyway, this is a fun little program that lets you compare a segment of your writing to authors in their database. Depending on what section you send, you'll get different results. I'll keep trying until I get a more famous author. Ha!

(On second try, I got Anne Rice. Come on, be serious!)

Thursday, July 15, 2010

GLEEEEE

With all the talk on Blame it on the Muse about music stirring the creative juices, I decided to sit down and update my ipod with my treadmill music. This song by Queen kept running through my head then I realized I'd watched the episode of Glee where they do a great rendition of Somebody to Love. So I got pulled into YouTube and found them performing it on Oprah.

Enjoy!

Monday, July 12, 2010

Blame it On the Muse


Today is launch day for our new blog, Blame It On the Muse on which yours truly is a blogger. It's a blog with twelve other writers of various genres for readers and writers alike.

Mondays will be the day we celebrate the Muse, that fickle, picky, flighty, controlling, and sometimes absent diva of our creative nature. We weigh in Muse Mondays on the trials and tribulations of becoming intimate with your Muse.

Our writers will share insights throughout the month into their characters, excerpts, info on new releases and there will be giveaways and contests for our blog visitors. This month we'll have first hand pictures from the RWA conference in Orlando.

I'll be blogging TODAY our first Muse Monday! Come, cast your blame on the Muse.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Fantasy Coup of the Year!



George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones series, the first book of which was named, the Fantasy Novel of the Year in 1997, is coming to HBO. I'd been listening to the first book in the Song of Fire and Ice Series via my Audible subscription when I heard this news.


Home made videos and interviews with George R.R. Martin abound on YouTube, including this recent addition of confirmed cast 





Here's their trailer if you haven't seen it.



Oooh, 'Winter is Coming'. Like so many fantasies with themes about the coming darkness, evil, cataclysm, etc. WINTER is the big bad here. And I suspect not just any winter.


Though some scenes are a bit wordy and if I were inclined to nodding off, I probably would, for the most part I keep returning to this book to find out what will happen next. And to listen closely to Martin's   adept use of the writing craft. His metaphors and similes are smooth as silk and just as accurate. Fantasy writer wannabes probably study his work for the classics they are already becoming.

Personally I can't wait til they introduce the Dothraki and the old crone shouts, 'The babe will be the stallion that mounts the world'. (Cool.) Once again, Martin proves that the story is the thing. It takes an enthralling story to grab a readers attention and hold it but it takes great writing to give the series lasting appeal.

If you haven't read his series, here are the four books out so far with another on the way.

How about you? Ever read Martin? Any other fantasy authors? Sanderson, Rothfuss, Jordan? Who's your fav?

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Productivity

Just last weekend I was ruminating on how much time I spend watching sports - NFL football, golf, basketball finals, tennis, and this year the World Cup.

In February, with the Super Bowl behind me, I entered the 50,000 word challenge to get TR finished, when there was nothing but college basketball on TV, well nothing worth watching. (I say that but if the University of Maryland basketball team had made it to the sweet 16, well...)

Yesterday, after the relatively short Wimbledon final where Rafael Nadal proved why he's numero uno, I got in revisions on twenty pages of FIMB. So I'm not totally laying down the work just to watch sports. But some people obviously do. The statistics are in on World Cup loss of production in the US and Britain.

For the first time US viewers lost 175 million work hours to the World Cup, but no where close to the Brits' 7.36 billion - that's billion, folks - billions of work hours to watch a what four week tourney?

60% arranged time off
26% took time off
17% left work early
3% watched at work

Most of those watching in the US were in Miami, New York and D.C. Sounds like there's hope for Soccer in the US.

Luckily my favorite sports are on Sunday a perfect day to take a respite from working and writing. And in one month, I'll be ready for some Football!!!!!!

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Happy Birthday America


I love to watch the Capitol Fourth from my hometown of D.C. with all the schmalzy patriotic music and fireworks. One year Ray Charles sang America the Beautiful; that was my favorite. This year though the temperatures were hotter than even here in Louisiana it was one of the most enthusiastically attended shows.

A what if question for you - where would we be now if we'd lost to the British? The realm would have probably sold us off to the French.

Happy Birthday to US!
May we grow in unity as our forefathers intended and learn in our souls that we are truly created equal, humbly accepting a position beside our fellow man, not above them.

Friday, July 2, 2010

Bobble-heads unite!

I often listen to music to obtain a certain mood or inspiration for the scene I'm in. That's not why I posted these Paul Simon vids though. Nothing says joy like the Paul Simon and Ladysmith Black Mambazo songs from his Graceland album. Enjoy, while I work out some worldbuilding details on Tempest Rising.

This one, You Can Call Me Al, has given me a pulled muscle twice on the treadmill. You might look like a bobble-head while you're listening but don't let it keep you from getting up and dancing.
Yeah!