Tipsy Tuesday- Finding your Muse

Sometimes my Muse is on the precipice of perfection. Other times she torments me with glee.

Here are a few things I've found that bring her back out of the shadows, and willingly whispering in my ear:


1. Sleep on it. If I'm stuck and not another single word is willing to spill from my fingertips, I let it sit. Usually when I come back to it the next morning my Muse is full of fresh ideas to get us back on track.

2. Eat something. I don't know what it is about food that inspires me, but it does. Keep a notebook handy!

3. Get in the car. Maybe it's that what my Muse enjoys most is torturing me. I always have great ideas strike while I'm driving. Red lights are your friend, keep a notebook and pen handy. The voice recorder on your cell phone would work too. ;)

4. A confidant. My sister is my sounding board and confidant. When I talk to her and start bouncing things off her the solution will always materialize. Either she'll see the escape hatch or a whole new plan will formulate before my eyes.

5. Goals. I'm a rather competitive person. If I put a goal down on my calendar to, say, have the first draft of a story finished- I usually blow it out of the water. My goal to finish Emerald? Killed it two months early. Goal for first 50 edits? Wiped them out a month before the deadline. It works for me, but only if I write it in ink on the calendar I stare at daily.


I'm also thinking the Tipsy part of this Tuesday could pull your Muse into better use! Let's experiment! I had the BEST drink on Friday night- a blueberry cosmo. YUM! Here's how to make your own:

Blueberry Cosmo

4 parts blueberry vodka
2 parts triple sec
2 parts cranberry juice
1 part lime juice

Pour all ingredients into a shaker full of ice. Shake until chilled and then serve in a martini cocktail glass.

I have no idea how many calories are in this one, and I'm afraid I don't even care. Gasp in horror, I know. This drink is good enough you won't care either.

Mommy Monday

It's Food Allergy Awareness Week!
Go to FAAN's website for more info.

Spreading awareness, spreading safety for our food allergic children.

Even one bite could kill a child with food allergies.

The number of children with food allergies rose 18% between 1997 and 2007, according to the CDC. EIGHTEEN PERCENT. That is HUGE. Over 12 million Americans have food allergies. Over 3 million of those are children.

We need to fight for our cause, stand up and stand out. Find the cause, find the CURE!

Friday Fun

How cool is this? I made it at wordle.com for my novel, Emerald's Keeper. If you click on it you can see a bigger image.





We also had family pictures made this weekend. Isn't my Super-Spawn so stinking cute?! The photos were taken by the fabulous Brett Butler. He also did some head-shots for my website, so those will be up soon!


In other (not so) fun news- I've fractured a couple bones in my foot. I'm such a klutz! I should really just stay stationed at my computer all the time so as to not injure myself. Super-Spawn also has an infection in a cut on his leg. Greeeat. Ever had to give a toddler 2 different oral antibiotics and rub him in cream three times a day? Is. Not. Fun. He's a pretty good sport as long as I promise him coke. Hey, whatever it takes right? He doesn't need to know his coke is all natural and made from organic ingredients. Just like his cookies. Sneaky mom strikes again!

Do any of my other lovely blog friends live in Florida? I am so looking forward to the 9th Annual Florida Writers Conference! It is being held in Orlando, FL October 22-24 this year. I'm already saving to make the trip. I'm also planning to enter the 2010 Royal Palm Literary Competition with Emerald this year. If you're local and interested you can go to the Florida Writers Association website for more details.

Also be sure to check out Gatekeeper's guest blog post about taking writer's jealousy and turning it into something positive.

Do the Write Thing is going on this week as well as a fundraiser for the people impacted by the Nashville flood. Go over to the blog and bid on signed copies of books, query critiques, manuscript critiques and much more for a good cause.

Have a great weekend all!

Book Recommendation - Rebel Angels

Rebel Angels
By Libba Bray

Snippet of the Blurb on Goodreads: "Ah, Christmas! Gemma Doyle is looking forward to a holiday from Spence Academy, spending time with her friends in the city, attending ritzy balls, and on a somber note, tending to her ailing father. As she prepares to ring in the New Year, 1896, a handsome young man, Lord Denby, has set his sights on Gemma, or so it seems. Yet amidst the distractions of London, Gemma’s visions intensify–visions of three girls dressed in white, to whom something horrific has happened, something only the realms can explain. . . ."

I really loved this installment of the Gemma Doyle Trilogy. The story intensifies, we finally get some answers. The chemistry between Gemma and Kartik is enthralling, and the battle for the realms has reached epic proportions. The magic must be bound before chaos ensues, but the girls don't know who they can trust.

The pages flew by for me as I read this. I enjoyed the writing and the story. This book was a huge hit for me. There is tension everywhere from the budding romance with Kartik to the race for the realms to passing Ann off as royalty. Then you've got Simon who has taken a liking to Gemma and the addictions of her father...scandal is only a breath away.

Definitely a book I'll recommend. I really enjoy the fantasy twist on a historical setting. Just a warning, this book is much longer than the last, but is definitely worth the time.

I've already started the final book in the series The Sweet Far Thing, which is enormous at 819 pages!

Road Trip Wednesday

Ah, Wednesday. One of my favorite days of the work-week; second only to Friday. You see, Wednesday means it's Road Trip time on the YA Highway!

This week's topic:
What photos inspire your books?

I so love this topic! Emerald was inspired by images like these:

All three of them I took on an island near where I live. I grew up on these beaches and they are where I set the Emerald Academy of Magic in my novel Emerald's Keeper. These pictures inspired me more than just with setting though. In the first two you can see the play of light against the dark sky. It looks as though the light really is battling to overcome the dark.

Naturally, my mind took that and formed a plot of impending doom.-- Mandy may be magical, but when vampires that consume people's light plunge the world into darkness she knows it will take more than spells to be victorious. If she doesn't change allegiance first.


My work in progress-- well it's inspiration is rather different.



Yeah, I totally went there.

But it's not a political story at all. No, it's about a sixteen year old demon slayer on a mission to save her nephew from the overlord. The working title is This Heavenly Hell, but that's all I'm willing to give away at this point. ;)

Tipsy Tuesday- Formatting

It's Tipsy Tuesday!! Know what that means? I'm going to dish out writerly tips and a special treat at reader's request!

Today's tips are on formatting your manuscript. Dun dun DUN! Tricky part is, nobody really agrees on formatting other than a few basic points. Some agents will give specific guidelines on the format they expect manuscripts to be in on their websites, some don't, or just don't care. So, have a grain of salt and read on.

1. A generally agreed upon point is the font. Always 12 point, Times New Roman or Courier. Don't get fancy, it won't be appreciated.
2. Always use a title page. It should have your title and byline in the center, estimated word count at the top right, and your name, address, phone, and email at the top left.
3. Double space, double space, double space!
4. 1 inch margins all the way around.
5. Paragraphs should always be indented.
   
6. In the header you should put- Lastname/ TITLE and in the footer the page number.
7. Page break after each chapter- trust me, this is totally necessary once you reach revisions.
8. Write in the correct format from the start. No, it is not easy to go back and change it. I had to do that with Emerald and boy was it a pain!
9. Four lines of space before your title.
10. Two lines of space between title and first paragraph.
    

An example from the Sharkly Janet Reid:

header: your last name/title

(four lines)

(centered) Chapter One

two lines

(tab indent of five spaces or 1/2 inch)


250 words in Times New Roman 12 point. Courier works too. Anything else is a risk. Leave your risk taking for content, not presentation.

Indent each new paragraph with the tab key.
Indent new lines of dialogue with the tab key.

bottom page, lower right: page number

And now the treat!

Try a sour-apple martini made with 2 1/2 oz. sour mix and 3/4 oz. each vodka and sour apple liqueur for a 160-calorie treat. Yum! If that doesn't inspire your writing, I fear nothing will!

Mommy Monday

For the last couple weeks I've found my writing time going by the way-side. This is not something I'm happy about. It makes me snippy and leaves me feeling overburdened by work and my emotions. Not a fun person to be around at all. So, sitting at my desk working diligently on a project for my boss I got to thinking.

People often say things like, "I haven't found the time", when asked if they've written anything new. Or when someone inquires on the status of edits they might say, "It's taking a lot of time, and I just don't have much these days."

I've found myself guilty of the last one recently.

The truth may not be what you want to hear. Or what I want to hear either, but I know, for a fact, it works.

You don't find time to do anything, you make time.

Priorities is what it all comes down to. Now, is my Super-Spawn going to be cast aside for writing time? No. He is my first priority always. But, that book I'm reading, that lunch date I've made? Those are negotiable.

I'm not telling anyone to give up reading and a social life. All I'm trying to say is everything you do is a choice. I chose to go out shopping on Saturday with Super-Spawn and Preggo instead of writing. I didn't lose the time, I made a conscious decision. Here I am to admit that I need to start making better writing decisions. My edits are going dreadfully slow and it's nobody's fault but my own.

Just make up your mind and DO IT. It seems ridiculously simple, right? All it takes is the will power to back it up.

Hmmm, now where did I leave my will power?

What does this have to do with being Mommy? Well, everything. Being mommy defines my life. I work full time, cook, play, read, all of it for Super-Spawn. Everything I do is focused on and around him and that even includes my writing. I'd never be where I was today without the punk; he's my inspiration. One day I'll tell you the story of finding my inspiration for Emerald. You'll see then how my writing really is because of him.