Writing Prompt: Grandma Said What??

You are dealing with a bout of insomnia due to a reoccurring nightmare that started two days after the loss of your grandmother. Suddenly, you see a ghost who claims to be her spirit. Her spirit orders you to take care of something she wasn’t able to before she passed. If you do, she’ll leave you alone. If you don’t, she’ll haunt you forever.




When I thought of this one, I thought grandma wanted me to get rid of her dirty secrets but I thought that was a bit much. Grandpa would have found it before I could have and kept it for himself.


What do you think? What is Grandma's secret? And let's hope it has nothing to do with Victoria's!

Or Freddy Kroger's for that matter!

Today's Laugh: Doctor...Who? :-)

I couldn't resist putting this up. I am in love with Doctor Who (David Tennant is bloody fantastic!) and Catherine Tate. One video combining the two.... Melt in your mouth, not in your hand bliss...

Feedback on this - fantastic :) or ehh :(?

Writing Prompt: Help Kill Your Pal's Wife

One of the websites that I visit quite often is Writer's Digest. And they have the best articles to browse through if you ever need an inspiration or to drop money on some book you think will lead you to success...

Anyway, about every other day they post up writing prompts to give you a leg up on starting up a story. I have a couple of favorites that I will post up from time to time.

Try this on for size and leave a comment on how you think you first couple of sentences would go:

A close friend asks you to help him kill his wife and, to his surprise, you agree without hesitation—not because you particularly dislike his wife, but because she’s the only person who knows this one deep, dark secret that could ruin your life forever. Write about how you confront her and how the murder plays out.


Have Fun!!!!

Today's Music: Random but Fun

Just a simple little diddle stuck in my head....now it's stuck in yours too! Enjoy

Too Little, Too Late?; Writer's Conference in NYC

It has been about 12 days since "The Balancer" (working title for now) didn't make the cut for NaNoWriMo. Yes, yes, sad sad, blah blah.

Remember how my main lament was that the ideas just weren't coming? Well wouldn't you know, my Muse decided to come back from vacation and pop in and say, "Hey why not this?" or "That would be awesome if you did this?" or "THAT WOULD BE OF EPIC PROPORTIONS IF YOU DID THAT!!"

Yes, my muse screams when she gets excited. Doesn't yours?

But I am torn - I had wanted all this last month! When I was specifically carving out time to write and to flourish and get ready for January.

Oh, what's January you ask? Well in January, I will be attending my first Writer's Conference hosted by Writer's Digest. It is my chance to approach some 60 agents in hopes of getting great feedback and schmoozing and all that jazz.

So here's the dilemma. How can I approach any agent without anything to show for? Sure, I know what exactly I am going to write but I DO NOT want the conversation to go like this?

Me:....(just finished explanation/pitch). What do you think?


Agent: That sounds like a fantastic series. I can definitely see the marketability and I would love to get a read through. Is it ready?


Me: Ugh...well about that...it's not quite there yet.


Agent: What's not quite there?


Me:.....Like major revisions not quite there yet.


Agent:...NEXT!

(Both Charlie Brown depictions do justice as to what I would be feeling).

So it seems that I am amidst another scramble to finish (or at least 75% ) Book 1. I want more than anything to ensure that my money is being well spent for this conference.

So let's see what we can do! Novel in Month, Take 2!

BY THE WAY!

Anyone attending this conference? January 20-22 at the Sheraton New York Hotel! I'd love to hear from anyone attending. I'm going solo but wouldn't mind a buddy! Let me know!

Yea...NaNoWriMo Kick My A**

Well, I can't really say that...entirely, that is.


NaNoWriMo is truly about the journey. About learning about yourself as a writer. About your ability to sit down and bang out 50,000 words to form a novel.

What are my lessons? I learned about 4:

1. I can't just write out 50,000 words in a month

2. I learned that my family will get in way of me writing 50,000 words in a month.

3. I learned that my job will get in the way of me writing 50,000 words in a month.

4. I learned I get in the way of me writing 50,000 words in a month.

Now mind you, I have an entire book, no entire series, all planed out. But...the pressure of trying to bang it out (and not fully bang it out either, just enough to get to 50,000) put a damper on my imagination. There were days where I would sit in front of my laptop and want to write but nothing would come out. Writer's block is detrimental to NaNoWriMo. You can't afford it.

I knew where I had to get to at the end of the brick road. But the putting it down brick by brick and having to skip bricks just to get to the end didn't work for me. So the 50,000 threshold eluded me.

So where does this leave me? Same place I was. The novel will get done. Just not done in a month. My current track record is three months, so I estimate about January. Which will be great because I'm going to my first writer's conference in New York in January (applause, applause, thank you). However, more on that later.

Am I glad that I went for NaNoWriMo? Absolutely. It got me to put down the plans for this series I'm writing and I think it's going to be a hit. Then that could be the ego talking.

Will I go for it again? Eh...why not? Everyone needs a good ass-kicking every now and then!

NaNoWriMo: Post Week 1; Writer's Conference

So...

Yea... This is what I should be feeling, exhausted but invigorated. Heavy but light. Drained but completed. All those opposite words. The reality of it....not so much.

Couple of things I have figured out this past week.

I have a lot of ideas, but not enough time to put them down on paper. My supposed schedule went out the window with work, family and other stuff came into play. Out of the 10K words I should have down on paper, I only have a little more than half.

Unacceptable.

So Week 2 is all about tweaking what needs to be tweaked, running away from all other things and locking myself in some Panera Bread somewhere and getting work done.

Hopefully I will have redeemed myself this week - cross my fingers.

In other news, I have decided to attend my first Writer's Conference (the crowd cheers).

I'll be attending the Writer's Digest Conference in January in NYC. Really excited about the networking that will be taking place, learning more about the craft and getting some pointers from agents and publishers attending.

But before I can really use it to its full potential, this bloody manuscript needs to get done!!

Sigh...Ok..I'm going.

Words of encouragement are always welcome. I've told my other readers that it gives me the mojo to keep going!