Happy New Year!!

New Years @ Bopmyspace.com

Goals anyone?

Let's see....

My first and usual one...lose weight. At least I have until April before hubby gets home again. But I really want to focus on my writing. I don't want to come up with a long list of what I could be doing better. Just do it!

New Baby!

As if I didn't have enough to do, I let myself get suckered into taking a puppy. A friend had gotten a Lab mix from the animal shelter and didn't know she was pregnant or full of heartworms. She started treatments and began to get fat and healthy looking. During the big ice storm we had, she popped out 15 puppies, 11 survivors. But one of the first pups they found outside was cold and stiff, they tried for a long time to revive her. My friend finally gave up and put her with the others until he could clean up the mom and remaining puppies. As he was taking the pups out that didn't make it, he heard a squeal and realized it was the first little girl they found outside. They named her Possum. And now she's a part of our family.

Welcome Miss Possum!!

Motivation

I'm trying a new approach on the revisions...actually it's almost a total rewrite of my ms. I'd love to say I'm hard at work and the word count is growing, but I've been gathering. I'm wanting to take a more organized path this time to see if maybe it'll make a difference. When I wrote this ms the first time, it was a NaNo.

Samantha Hunter is a Blaze author with Harlequin and she is currently working a thread at eHQ about motivation. When I first heard them discussing the workshop, I thought maybe it was about writing through adversity or outside influences during the holidays...nope. It plays in more with what I had been reading about ~ layering and character traits.

One of the things that she mentions is...WHY? There are so many things that can play into your character's motivation. History, personality, reactions and background issues ~ just to name a few.

The Motivation Clinic

I really liked something she mentioned - a motivational chain. Start questioning why and see where it takes you. I think it adds a three dimensional depth to a character. Several of the authors lately have had threads where their characters are being interviewed and chatting with readers. It made it seem more realistic, especially after having read the book. But the readers were digging into motivation and what drives the character.

How deep do you get into your characters...and how do you keep it consistent?

New Employee

Hehe...Mrs. Chicki Brown sent me something I just had to share! Merry Christmas!

ResimaY
To hoom it mae cunsern,
I waunt to apply for the job what I saw in the paper. I can Type real quik wit one finggar and do sum a counting.

I think I am good on the phone and no I am a pepole person, Pepole really seam to respond to me well. Certain men and all the ladies.

Im lookin for a Jobb as a reporter but it musent be to complicaited.I no my spelling is not to good but find that I Offen can get a job thru my persinalety.

My salerery is open so we can discus wat you want to pay me and wat you think that I am werth, I can start imeditely.

Thank you in advanse fore yore anser. hopifuly Yore best aplicant so farr.

Sinseerly,

BRYAN nikname Beefy

PS : Because my resimay is a bit short - below is a pickture of me.



Employer's response:.....

Dear Beefy-I mean Bryan,

It's OK honey, we've got spell check.

You're hired.

Rejection

I stumbled across an author's amazing story about the road to getting published. I didn't recognize the name until I got further down through her post. So Merry Christmas to all my buddies struggling right now. I hope this gives you as much encouragement as it did me. It'll happen.

My First Sale by Meg Cabot

And then again...I hadn't ever heard of La Nora's call story either! It's classic!!!!

My First Sale by Nora Roberts

A-Ha! Ohhh...that's what that means!

I love it when I have one of those moments when something just clicks. As a fairly new writer, muddling around toward my ultimate goal...to be a published author...I've had quite a few of those *aha* moments, or at least what I consider a few nano-seconds of clarity.

Several authors and friends have referred me to Debra Dixon's non-fiction book for writers ~ Goal, Motivation and Conflict. I keep putting off buying it because...well, I'm cheap and would rather spend the money on say...electricity or food. But as I was working on rewriting my synopsis this weekend, I decided to research GMC to see what articles I could find. Most of what I found referred back to Debra Dixon's book. So I think I've found a good solution...my mother asked me just this morning what I wanted for Christmas. I usually have no clue as to what I want or need. But this evening I had another *aha* thought ... wow ~ 2 in one day ...and made her a list of writing manuals including GMC.

But what I wanted to share with you guys was an article I found by Susan Vaughan about conflict. She went a little further than what I had previously found online. She defines conflict, or something that I found helpful...what conflict "is not".

Gas Pains...

One of the blogs I frequent has a thought provoking post today...check it out.

Plot Monkeys

On another subject...I've often read on author sites, where published authors talk about people who've actually asked them if they'd write a story with someone else's story idea. And share the money. I laughed because I wondered if it was really that common. Until recently. I had a family member...known for his get rich quick schemes which usually involve someone else doing the work while "family member" gets the credit and profit, who told me that I should send my current ms to him. He could help crit the chapters...and I could share the royalties. He's been reading for years so he's somewhat of an expert. Ugh. And I'm not even published.

Christmas Meme

I think this is my first Christmas meme #1. I can't remember if I did one last year. Oh well...no matter cause I'll have fun doing it.

I was tagged by my buddy Jennifer Shirk. Enjoy.

1... Eggnog or hot chocolate? Eggnog definitely, in my Bailey's Irish Cream.

2... Does Santa wrap presents or just put them under the tree? Both. Mostly wrapped. Big ones like bikes... a ribbon maybe. We don't do many Santa gifts though.

3... Colored or white lights on tree/house? Red and white. Mostly white. We put up red rope lights along roof and gutter lines and white icycles along gutter. It looks almost like a Santa hat.

4... Do you hang mistletoe? I agree with Jennifer. NO. Too awkward.

5... When do you put your decorations up? Usually we put everything up the Friday after Thanksgiving. But this year we're just now putting them up this weekend.

6... What is your holiday dish (excluding dessert)? Green bean casserole and cream cheese Mexi-corn. And when hubby is home we do the fried turkey.

7... Favorite holiday memory as a child. The year my dad finally showed up. Christmas morning the doorbell rings and we open the front door. The entire glass storm door is filled with toys. As dad starts taking toys away to reveal himself, he is holding a Boxer puppy. As an adult and parent I look back and feel bad for my mom but as a child it was pretty damn exciting, we got a ton of toys and a puppy.

8... When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? Pretty early I guess because to tell the truth I don't remember.

9... Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? We get our Santa stockings over at my mom's.

10... How do you decorate your Christmas tree? Mostly white lights with a couple of red strings spaced out. Rustic country wood decorations, pine cones, crimson red bows, gold and crimson red balls and ornaments the boys get every year.

11... Snow! Love it or dread it? We love it but hate Okie drivers.

12... Can you ice skate? Nope. Not on my to-do list either. ;)

13... Do you remember your favorite gift? My sweetheart gave me a heart necklace our first year together.

14... What’s the most important thing about the holidays for you? I completely agree with Jennifer on this one as well...Celebrating the birth of Jesus--and quality time with my family.

15... What is your favorite holiday dessert? Christmas peppermint bark!!

16... What is your favorite holiday tradition? Getting the boys in bed on Christmas Eve and spending the evening with hubby. We finish wrapping gifts and curl up on the couch by the fireplace with the only lights coming from the tree.

17... What tops your tree? A crimson red and gold angel.

18... Which do you prefer, giving or receiving? Giving. We only buy a present or two for each other and splurge on the boys.

19... What is your favorite Christmas song? "Breath of Heaven (Mary's Song)" by Amy Grant.

20... Candy canes: We found SpongeBob candy canes. Who knew.

21... Favorite Christmas movie? Oooo, hard choice. I'm a sucker for the oldies...of course "It's a Wonderful Life". But a close favorite is the 1947 version of "Miracle on 34th Street".

22... What do you leave for Santa? Eggnog and cookies.

I'll be a spoiler and not tag anyone...everyone's so stressed. But please ~ take a break and play along if you have time. I'm watching you! ;)